Comment

Mar 26, 2017sgcf rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
This historical novel took a while to pull me in, partly because of Desrochers’ expository writing style that seemed like it was a thesis project (which it was). But often she would end chapters with beautiful poetic images – for example, at the death of a friend: “Laure reaches in the air. She doesn’t know how to hold back a soul in flight.” Regardless, I did get caught up in the story of 17th century neglected women from France sent to Canada (New France) to be wives for the rough-living fur trappers and soldiers. It was thought-provoking to see the situation from the traumatic perspective of the women who were sent to populate the new country after having read The Orenda by Joseph Boyden, which uses a similar cast of characters but comes from the perspective of the Native Indians and Jesuits trying to “tame” them.