The Luckiest Girl in the World (Paperback)

Verity Sweeny Purdy at the age of eleven was sent to England to live with an aunt and train as a classical dancer. This memoir tells of her experience crossing Canada by train, the Atlantic Ocean by ship, and her arrival in England. Her story continues as she tells about her Aunt Doffrie and her bohemian way of life. We learn about her schooling and dance training. She writes about her mothers' Scottish cousins, their mansions and castles, and their life style that was so different from Verity's. For five years of her young life, Verity was the Luckiest Girl in the World.

As a London-trained ballet dancer who performed in Hollywood, taught at a Seattle dance school and changed her name to Anna Verite, Verity Sweeny Purdy first described her girlhood dancing career in The Luckiest Girl in the World. As Private V. Sweeny she toured from 1943 to 1946 with the Canadian Army Show that included comedians Frank Shuster and Johnny Wayne, plus female impersonators called the Tin Hats. Born in Vancouver in 1922 and raised in the West End of the city, Purdy resided in Comox when her second book appeared.