Mrs. Mike by Benedict and Nancy Freedman is a classic story of survival. The young Katherine Mary Flannigan of Boston finds herself far from home as she begins her new life in the northern country of Canada. Her mother warns her of the cold and advises her to keep warm, but Kathy doesn't know that the weather will be the least of her problems. Her life changes drastically once she reaches her new home, giving her entirely new things to worry about. She never knew that nature could become her enemy as well as her friend. Throughout the course of the novel, there are many ways that nature becomes an enemy to the people.
             One day, while Kathy is working in her garden, she realizes that flames are engulfing the forest. Winds carry these flames through the entire forest as well as the village. Luckily, Kathy saves herself along with others by staying in the river. The devastation, however, is far greater than the burns on Kathy's face. About one third of the people from the village die, including Joe Henderson's son, Tommy. The village is completely demolished, leaving the remaining families without homes. The forest that provides natural resources and the animals living there that provide food for the people are all gone. The fire proves to be a true enemy of the people.
             Disease spreads quickly in the country with little medicine and few hospitals available. Kathy lives through the diphtheria epidemic only to watch the rest of the village die away. Most of the Indians die, family by family, from this deadly disease. They have no possible way of fighting it off. Both of Kathy's children, Mary Aroon and Ralph, are taken away from her by diphtheria. She watches her first family pass her by. Many of the Indians do not have immunities to a common cold, the flu, and die from it as well. Kathy loses many close friends this way.
             Kathy quickly finds that animals can be a natural enemy to people as well. During the d...