Esther Paul (1932- ), born and raised in a small railroad town in Manitoba, now lives in Kanata, Ontario. She has been a Registered Nurse, wife, mother, grandmother, widow, artist, entrepreneur, and community activist. After receiving a Master's Degree in Pastoral Counselling, she worked as a psychotherapist and counsellor until retiring in 1998. Then she began to write fiction, poetry, and newspaper columns. "A Railway Kid," published by Borealis Press, is her memoir of her early years.

Mending Fences is a collection of short fictional stories, four of them award-winning, about relationships between ordinary people. Our lives are often filled with regrets over the past – harm we have done to others or missed opportunities to do the right thing. Many of these tales reflect a sense of retribution or reparation – making things right: a middle-aged gay son suddenly appears at his mother´s door after many years of estrangement; a woman dying of cancer seeks to reconcile with a once-favourite aunt; a recently widowed woman discovers a precious gem in a packing case, causing her to recall her pain at the loss of her first love.

But life also brings us lighter moments of fun and enjoyment, and other stories are in a less serious vein: an elegant elderly couple enjoy dancing at a supper club; an ad in the Companions Wanted column has comic results; and two twenty-somethings seek their Mr. Right.

Thus, Mending Fences weaves together serious and lighter experiences in an imitation of life.

This is the story of a twentieth-century woman's journey through adult life to late middle age. Born in the Depression years in rural Manitoba into a strictly religious middle-class family, Mary by all outward appearances enjoyed a successful and comfortable life. However, on the brink of suicide at 58, she looks back over her life as she writes farewell letters to those close to her. In doing so, she is impelled to re-evaluate her relationshi[s and the decisions she made in her life. A complex and compelling portrait is revealed of a deeply sensitive person and the culture in which she lived.

   This book was originally written for the author´s grandsons, to tell them about life in a very different time: the 1930s, an era far removed from today´s fast-paced technological world. She says, "The old way of life is long gone and I felt it would be a pity to be forgotten; not that it was better, but simply a road travelled to where we are now."
   Railway Kid is about a girl growing up, moving from childhood innocence and naiveté to finding her place in the world with its opportunities, perils, and challenges. It´s about daring to assert oneself in spite of a strict upbringing in a small railway town in Manitoba.