The book is a historical fiction novel that reimagines the true story of Marguerite de la Rocque, a 16th-century French noblewoman abandoned on an island off Canada’s coast.
Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, but here I feel like the author took a couple of interesting true stories from the 16th century and turned them into the romantic fantasy of a naive teenage girl. There is an ongoing theme lamenting against the injustice of the male patriarchy, which deserves serious attention in novels and elsewhere, but this feels more like exploitation and pandering to female readers.
The writing is competent, but the characters are underdeveloped. The pacing of the book's first half is tedious, but when we get to the second half, some of the survival elements are breezed through, and some are just improbable. The book never rises above its simple romance, survival, and injustice themes to teach us much about the history. We don't learn much about the times. Overall, I can't recommend it.
by SteveRT78
1 Comment
Do you find this a common theme within Goldman’s work? I mean I’ve heard of Goodman and was somewhat intrigued by Isola but am yet to read one of her books.