The Bear Woman by Karolina Ramqvist, translator Saskia Vogel

 

I was fascinated by the story of Marguerite de La Rocque and how she came to be abandoned on a remote Canadian island far from her French home land in 1541.  As you can imagine, there is not much documentation about this woman nor what happened to her.  The narrator, or is it the author, provides the reader with sound ideas of what might have happened.

This is also the story of how an author researches and creates a book.  It would have a been a mistake for the author to assume that women in 1540's were identical to modern women in their approach to life and decision making.  I was absorbed as the narrator took us along her thought processes and how she reached her decisions of how Marguerite might have thought and behaved and why.  Quite an eye openerfor me.

As much as I wanted to race ahead and glean all the details of Marguerite's life, I took my time and carefully pondered the various events.  Women were but mens' chattel at that point in time, how much say would she have had in her life.  Something very difficult for me to conceive at present.

I am so glad I spent time with this book and the lives of both Marguerite and the narrator.  As women, both past and present, we are deserving of lengthy consideration.

I received an advanced reader copy of this book from Indigo Books and Music Inc. and  Coach House Books in exchange for an honest review.

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