The Broken Heart of Winter
The Broken Heart of Winter
Melissa Poremba
, Aleksandra Sobczak
, Siobhan Laskey
, Mary Therrien
, Chantal Comeau
, Agnes Marshall
, Patricia Johnson
, Sebastian Schulman
, Heather Sibley
, Barry Kazimer
, cassandra schiemann
, Janice Hutchinson
, Sandra Furlotte
, Sarah Schwartz
, Lisa Ostrowski
, Marilyn Stanley
, Joanna McFarlane-Frampton
, Emma Parker
, Margaret McKay
, Susan Fitzgerald
, Jude Castillo
, Judith Pearson
, Tyra Antle
, Noelle Walsh
, Sandra Perry
, Deana Bueley
, Gabrielle Wolfe
, Hoda Montazeri
, Andrea Pole
, Natasa Ilic
, Cathalynn Labonte-Smith
, Janice B Knickle
, Alison Jacques
, Naomi MacKinnon
, Susan Jang
, Anna Krentz
, Teree Hokanson
, Andrea Gillespie
, Linda Leitch
, Carrie Morris
, Deb Philippon
, PATRICIA SOPEL
, Marissa Yip-Young
, Rhona Brinkman
, Elaine Baptie
, Chris Carvalho
, Dani Kat
, Claudie Léveillé
, Connie Bennett
, Claire Gear
, Margo Beredjiklian
, Meaghan Krygier
, Maria Mclean
, Diane Normandin
, Lynn Bechtel
, Donna Gamache
, Janet Miller
, colleen novotny
, Karen Kendrick
, Christine Lion
, Pamela Roberts Griffith
, Benita Hartwell
, Shonna Froebel
, Tiffany C
, Patricia McKeown
, Mary Campbell
, Rachel Edmonds
, Cynthia Heinrichs
, Derek Davidson
, Rebecca Dixon
, Penelope Penner
, Debbie Youngman
, Janice Cournoyer
, Robert Hykawy
, Kat Sommer-Derksen
, Huguette Lemieux
, Zara Garcia-Alvarez
, Catherine Westerberg
, Wendy Houlden
, Paula Ritchie
, Mary Lester
, Denise Duvall
, joy mills
, Nancy Reid
, Rodney Cross
, Rosa Cross
, Kim Cappellina
, Ken Gilmour
, Sara Conway
, Kym Marsh
, Pamela Bruce
, Diane O'Flaherty
, Gabrielle Veilleux
, Lisa Mallia
, Angela Mitchell
, Virginia Reddin
, Debra Fisher
, norma haill
, Joe Mitchell
, Linda Lefler
, Francine Eichenauer
editor@49thShelf.com
Lise, Appoline and Anne are related, though they live on opposite coasts at different moments of time, with the vast geography of Canada and decades of change in between. The three women are linked by generations of hardship, displacement, and an eighteenth-century French musket that has been passed down through the LeBlanc family since the time of the Acadian expulsion. In contemporary Victoria, BC, Lise’s estranged son, Daniel, reappears in Nova Scotia just when she’s making significant changes in her life, including a nasty divorce from Daniel’s father. Upon learning that her son is living with a distant relative Lise barely knows and causing enough trouble to draw the attention of the authorities, Lise goes to him and begins to unravel a family history that brings about unintended consequences. In 1832, on Isle Madame, Nova Scotia, eighteen-year-old Appoline is left by her older brother to overwinter in an isolated cove, where she’s in charge of five members of her family ranging in age from ten to ninety-nine. Grand-mère, the family matriarch, refuses to leave despite the wishes of her family. Tension grows between Appoline and her younger sister, coming to a head when the sister brings home a young ‘Jersey man.’ Finally, Grand-mère tells her own story of the Acadian expulsion of 1755. Her memories follow a group of Acadian fugitives on their flight into what is now northern New Brunswick, seeking refuge at the infamous Camp D’Espérance. In each successive generation, the imprint of the expulsion perpetuates further suffering, severs a connection to the past and contributes to the gradual erosion of cultural identity. Nevertheless, these three women are resilient in the face of great obstacles. The Broken Heart of Winter speaks to the capacity of the human spirit to love, to adapt, and to carry on.
