A MOVIE crying out to be made : Sarah E Edmonds’ sojourn in Nova Scotia

The amazing story of the Union Army soldier-spy Sarah E Edmonds aka Private Frank Thompson is much much much better known in America than it is in her native Maritimes.

E stands for Emma and that is what she preferred to be known as, when she was not disguised as Frank.

The problem about making a movie of her life is that it would probably last longer than a Donald Trump Covid briefing and simply overwhelm the viewer.

But the more compact tale of Emma as Frank Thompson, the supposedly male bookseller  book-peddling all across the bigger towns of 1860s Nova Scotia is much more compact and quite an interesting one from the point of view of cross-gender issues.

Emma said she was a very successful seller of subscription books disguised as Frank and because these books were designed to appeal mostly to lower middle class/working class women living in small towns and the rural countryside, I don’t doubt her : these were her roots.

Frank, to keep up his disguise as an attractive but single male, constantly had to date and Emma later recalls in her autobiography in particular about having to break the heart of a pretty little Nova Scotian girl who didn’t want handsome eligible Frank to leave the province before marrying her.

Emma was straight but had always disliked men in general for so often breaking girls hearts by loving and leaving them.

Her having to do the same must have been particularly painful for her.

Emma always had a flair for the dramatic, which made her so convincing playing the roles of salesman, soldier, spy , male nurse etc, but it also makes for ready-for-Hollywood scripting : she told and embellished her autobiography in vivid prose.

And she has been well researched by generations of scholars fascinated by her experiences - a scriptwriter’s research work is basically done for her already.

Moreover, Emma’s movie would fit into an already profitable movie genre : bold interesting women in Nova Scotia.

Let’s see : movies about Adele Hugo, Maude Lewis, Margaret’s Museum, New Waterford Girl : I am sure I have missed many because frankly, I am not movie goer.

That’s never stopped me from suggesting movie plots though.

Or movie titles, in this case : “MORE THAN FRANK” ...