Completed shortly before her death in 1945 and published posthumously in 1946, Growing Pains: An Autobiography offers a vivid and candid portrait of one of Canada’s most original artists and writers. In this deeply personal work, Carr recounts her early life in Victorian-era British Columbia, growing up in a strict, colonial household in Victoria.

The book traces her artistic education in San Francisco, London, and Paris, as well as the physical and emotional hardships she endured in pursuit of her creative calling. With frankness and humour, Carr reflects on the isolation she often felt as a woman, an artist, and a westerner working far from the artistic centres of her time.

More than a chronological memoir, Growing Pains reveals the inner life of an artist who struggled to find her voice amid cultural conservatism and personal doubt. It also charts her spiritual and creative awakening through encounters with Indigenous cultures and the forests and coastlines of British Columbia, which would later define her most celebrated paintings. The writing, like her painting, is bold, unflinching, and full of raw insight. Published by Oxford University Press in Canada with the support of her longtime publisher and friend William H. Clarke, Growing Pains cemented Carr’s legacy not only as a painter of national significance but also as a pioneering literary voice.