Banff Book Discussion Weekend
May 22nd, 23rd and 24th, 2009
Elle
by Douglas Glover
ISBN: 0864924925 - Published in 2003 - Goose Lane Editions, pages 226Written in the first person, this young French society belle boards a ship for New France (Canada) and during her voyage there arises an altercation. Her uncle, the captain, orders Marguerite along with two of her fellow passengers off the ship and onto an island near the mount of the St. Lawrence River.
From the Publisher
A 16th-century belle turned Robinson Crusoe, a female Don Quixote with an Inuit Sancho Panza -- this is the heroine of the novel that won the 2003 Governor General''s Award. Elle is a lusty, subversive riff on the discovery of the New World, the moment of first contact. Based on what might be a true story, the novel chronicles the ordeals and adventures of a young French woman marooned on the desolate Isle of Demons during Jacques Cartier''s ill-fated third and last attempt to colonize Canada …
Setting: Canada 1500
Issues: Social correctness/power struggles
French policies in the New World