Love, Mona: the War Story of Mona Parsons by Sarah Jane Blenkhorn & Andria Hill-Lehr

This inspiring play is closely based on the true story of Mona Parsons, the only known female Canadian civilian sentenced to hard labour in Nazi Germany. Nova Scotian by birth, Mona was living in the Netherlands when Germany invaded in 1940. After joining the resistance, she was arrested, condemned to death, and ultimately served almost four years of hard labour in several German prisons.

Mona’s story is told through the memories of Wendelien, a Dutch baroness who formed a strong friendship with her in Vechta Prison, As Wendy, Wendelien’s younger self, allows Mona to get through her tough shell, Mona inspires her to survive and keep her humanity through stories of her life before the war and her strength of character. The two women seize their chance to escape during a bombing raid and make their way towards home through a Germany in ruins, begging for food and shelter. Mona and Wendy are separated close to the Dutch border, and after the Front rages overhead one night, Mona flees and crosses into Holland, where some of the first Allied soldiers she meets, through an extraordinary coincidence, are from her home province of Nova Scotia – the North Nova Scotia Highlanders. ‘Love, Mona’ tells the story of a Canadian heroine and explores the experiences of women in wartime.

“This play does lovely justice to Mona Parsons, a woman that we, as Nova Scotians, can finally feel very proud to know.” - Amanda Campbell, The Way I See It (TWISI) Theatre Blog

Keywords: war, WW2, friendship, Nova Scotia, women, prison, Holland, the Netherlands, Nazi Germany, resistance, escape, Mona Parsons