The Girl From 108

WINNER OF THE 2023 HERITAGE RECOGNITION AWARD by The PEI Museum & Heritage Foundation

The Girl from 108 is an intriguing account of the world the author, Lorraine Clements, grew up in at 108 King Street in Charlottetown. Here, her parents operated a boarding house that served as a home for builders, plumbers, and countrymen who came to serve the area. The boarding house rules were based on the strong morals instilled by the solid Catholic background of Lorraine’s mother, who firmly made sure that those rules were followed by all under her roof. The eclectic group of people who stayed there became her family. 

Lorraine’s stories immerse readers in evocative details of those days: her grandfather, Pop, wearing a top hat at the corner of Richmond and Queen Streets, smoking his pipe and discussing politics with his friends; the style of the women of the era—their hairstyles, their lipstick, and the elegant swoosh of a visiting nurse’s cape; she fondly recalls the “Kids from King Street,” a group who grew up in the city’s homes, parks, establishments and stores. 

As a child, Lorraine overheard whisperings that she was adopted, and, when she was fifteen, her parents reluctantly confirmed that the speculation was true. This realization led the author on a decades-long search for her birth mother, and it was on this journey that she discovered there was much more to the story.