The Abigail Project

Unclaimed Baggage, the new Abigail Massey at McAdam Station novel by Mary E. O'Keefe, is coming in spring 2022. Watch for more information here!

What is the Abigail Massey at McAdam Station Project?

The Abigail Massey at McAdam Station project has been a ten-year labour of love for author Mark Walma and his sister, designer and illustrator Lynn Walma. From the first moment the siblings visited the glorious McAdam Railway Station and Hotel in southwestern New Brunswick and witnessed first hand the incredible work a team of mostly volunteers from the Village of McAdam have put into restoring this architectural treasure, Mark and Lynn have involved friends and family in a project designed to use history to preserve history.

After hearing stories about the young women who lived and worked in the Station and Hotel in the 1940s, Mark and Lynn decided it wasn't enough simply to preserve the building: preserving the stories of the people who lived in, worked in and passed through the McAdam Station was just as important. And so the Abigail Massey stories were born.

Based on the history of the Station, Mark wrote a series of 12 children stories featuring Abigail Massey, a composite character intended to represent the young women who served as hotel maids and restaurant servers during the Second World War. Lynn created beautiful illustrations and designed a series of three collections of Abigail Stories which were published and then sold on a small scale in the Fredericton/McAdam area. Every penny of profit from the sales of these books goes directly to the McAdam Historical Restoration Commission to support the restoration of the Station.

With help from the amazing people in McAdam and the support of New Brunswick media, the Abigail story books soon began to sell like hotcakes, across New Brunswick and around the world. Local author Mary E. O'Keefe, born and raised right across from the McAdam Station, soon joined the creative team and a novella, a coffee table book and two more collections of stories followed over the passing years.

Who Is Abigail Massey?

The year is 1941 and Canada is embroiled in the Allied war effort as World War 2 enters its third year of fighting. Abigail Massey is 16 years old, living with her mom and dad in the town of McAdam Junction, a tiny community in the south west corner of New Brunswick. 

 

With her country at war, Abigail wants to find a way to serve her country and support the Canadian soldiers risking their lives in far away lands. Fortunately for her, and her cousin Martha Casey from Fredericton, McAdam Junction just happens to be the home of the McAdam Railway Station and Hotel, the beautiful gateway to Eastern Canada for trains coming from all across the country and one of the finest hotels in the Atlantic Provinces.

 

Join Abigail, Martha and their new friends Jenny and Alice as they live and work at this fabulous Station, trying to keep out of trouble as much as possible while experiencing the thrills and excitement of working in a place through which the world passes on a daily basis.