THE SEAMSTRESS OF ACADIE is yet another of the stellar works by Laura Frantz.
As 1754 is drawing to a close, tensions between the French and the British on Canada’s Acadian shore are reaching a fever pitch. Seamstress Sylvie Galant and her family–French-speaking Acadians wishing to remain neutral–are caught in the middle, their land positioned between two forts flying rival flags. Amid preparations for the celebration of Noël, the talk is of unrest, coming war, and William Blackburn, the British Army Ranger raising havoc across North America’s borderlands.
As summer takes hold in 1755 and British ships appear on the horizon, Sylvie encounters Blackburn, who warns her of the coming invasion. Rather than participate in the forced removal of the Acadians from their land, he resigns his commission. But that cannot save Sylvie or her kin. Relocated on a ramshackle ship to Virginia, Sylvie struggles to pick up the pieces of her life. When her path crosses once more with William’s, they must work through the complex tangle of their shared, shattered past to navigate the present and forge an enduring future. [back cover copy]
The Acadian expulsion from Nova Scotia is an event that is seldom used as novel settings. It’s a sad chapter in history, and Frantz makes great use of every opportunity for drama in this engaging story. And while the true events are tragic, Frantz in her typical way creates a story worth reading and easy to stick with. (I have started some books that were so disturbing, I could not make myself finish them. This is not such a book.)
Frantz gives us characters we root for, who grow and change through their trials, and are so appealing and interesting we just have to keep reading.
The settings come alive such that you may shiver in the cold, slip your shoes off thinking they are sopping wet, mop the sweat from your brow, or startle at a creak thinking it is a twig snapping as someone creeps up on you. I admire how well Frantz depicts her settings. I am drawn in every time.
We meet the Acadian families in their natural setting and enjoy their lives and celebrations.
But as British ships amass in the bay, the people who, for over a century, have lived simply, worked the land, fished the waters, and found ways to live peaceably with their neighbors sense their way of life is being threatened. Deceit and treachery abound and we are shocked along with them when they are piled aboard dilapidated vessels, forced to leave almost everything behind, then find families are broken apart.
Hardships multiply—filth, disease, storms, Disaster strikes—even to sinking ships. And we hope that those who survive will find peace and wholeness in the new land.
But humanity is there and humanity brings its own kind of wickedness, and hanging on to integrity and hope can be a very long battle. Add the clash of cultures, few friends and new foes—discerning who is friend or foe becomes critically important.
After reading a Frantz tale, I often try to figure out what it is that makes her novels superior quality. She gives us intriguing plots with many surprises, characters who, though flawed, possess integrity, honor, and kindly ways; and settings that come alive. But something beyond that makes her stories ones where I pause and re-read a scene because it’s so compelling. She has a way of imbuing characters with significance—especially those from less valued echelons of society—children, minorities, the elderly.
Another admirable skill Frantz demonstrates is her ability to choose the perfect, tiny action to focus on to elicit powerful emotional responses from her characters and thus from readers. For example, how often have you been brought to tears watching someone wash a shirt? Or from noticing the wallpaper in a new room you enter? Tiny, almost inconsequential actions that have a profound impact in the story as she tells it.
I suspect there are many other skills Frantz employs that I have not yet identified. But identifying them is not necessary to enjoying this captivating story. And we can be assured that Laura Frantz will always end on a hope-filled note.
You can purchase THE SEAMSTRESS OF ACADIE anywhere books are sold. And meet Laura online at her website or from there on social media.
All the characters in this story are completely real and compelling. The choices they face are heart-breaking. Their spiritual struggles authentically arise from their experience. And the forces that impact them lead to gripping, high stakes journeys where threats, like a tornado, intensify and accelerate.
Sundin draws her characters and settings clearly and thoroughly which helps keep the action brisk. Without intending to, I stayed up hours past normal, walking with Evelyn and Peter, trying to determine who was trustworthy and who was not. The supervisor, neighbor, professor, landlord, restaurateur? The new friends? Maybe the old friends? God?
Much like how our 21st century world had to learn how to handle a novel virus, this cast of characters has to learn about the novel threat of Nazi Germany. Their journey to do that is compelling and kept me engaged even after shutting the book. I highly recommend it.