Cyber Home
of Michele Doucette
Acadian Resources 5
This segment of the website introduces the reader to a variety of recommended reading material, all in reference to the French Acadian people.
THE ACADIANS OF NOVA SCOTIA: PAST AND PRESENT
The first work devoted exclusively to the Acadians of Nova Scotia, this book presents a thorough study of Acadian history from the earliest days of French settlement to present-day Acadian communities. Sally Ross and Alphonse Deveau draw on original seventeenth century texts, as well as up-to-date sources. They examine the history of the Deportation that began in 1755, and trace the return of the Acadians and their resettlements in seven areas of the province.
THREE HILLS HOME
Novel by Alfred Silver. The crossng paths of Eulalie, André and Cully Rodin change their lives irrevocably. With war looming between France and England, the Governor of Nova Scotia removes the Acadian people from the land they've lived on for generations and disperses them throughout the colonies to the south. Suddenly, even the simplest expectations are thrown into doubt as the three struggle to survive, love, and find their way home in the face of obstacles they could never have imagined.
I'LL BUY YOU AN OX: AN ACADIAN DAUGHTER'S BITTERSWEET PASSAGE INTO WOMANHOOD
A female coming-of-age story set in Nova Scotia, Betty Boudreau Vaughan chronicles the adolescence of Zoe LeBlanc, a spirited young girl growing up in a poor family in an Acadian village. It is a life of struggle, routine, family commitments, and loneliness, all of which Boudrean Vaughan depicts with credibility and grace. Zoe's turbulent relationships with her deluded father and her best friend Estelle are particularly compelling, and although the book lacks a strong narrative drive, it captures the priorities, fears, embarrassments, jealousies, and rivalries of childhood (in short, the whole awkward ordeal of gowing up) with exceptional sensitivity and skill.
A historical novel set in Acadian that explores the lives of several generations of the women of Acadia as well as the life of of a modern Acadian woman who questions her roots and her identity. It was the women of Acadia, they say, who kept the dream of their homeland alive and preserved its culture.
In 1755, under British rule, the Acadians were brutally removed from their rich farmlands and scattered to various parts of the world. After the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, some Acadians returned to live under British rule and some remained in other lands. Their descendants, whether they lived on the land that was once Acadia or in exile, still considered themselves Acadian because their mothers and grandmothers kept the dream alive. Who were these women of Acadia?
The author explores their lives, through several generations of ordinary women whose stories do not appear in the history of the battles, the negotiations, and the treaties that took place between the French and the British. She also explores what being Acadian means for a modern woman who feels alienated from her Acadian roots and who questions her identity.
