In November our member, Elva Edgar, had selected and lead the discussion on “Daughters of the Deer”. It was written by Danielle Daniel who, in her debut novel, was able to link her family’s ancestral link to this amazing story. Our five attending members had a very interesting and spirited discussion about this book, which we all loved very much.
Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel
In this haunting and groundbreaking historical novel, Danielle Daniel imagines the lives of women in the Algonquin territories of the 1600s, a story inspired by her family’s ancestral link to a young girl who was murdered by French settlers.
In 1657 Marie, a gifted healer, upon the insistence of her chief, married Pierre a white French settler. This helped her people survive from disease, starvation and threats from Iroquois. They had 7 children. Their lives were controlled by the Catholic church in their efforts of colonialism.
In 1675 Jeanne, Marie’s oldest child is 17 – neither white nor Algonquin, caught between worlds. Also caught by her own desires. Her heart belongs to a girl named Josephine, but soon her father will have to find her a husband or be forced to pay a hefty fine to the French crown. Among her mother’s people, Jeanne would have been considered blessed, her two-spirited nature a sign of special wisdom. To the settlers of New France, and even to her own father, Jeanne is unnatural, sinful – a woman to be shunned, beaten and much worse.
With the poignant, unforgettable story of Marie and Jeanne, Danielle Daniel reaches back through the centuries to touch the very origin of the long history of violence against indigenous women and disruption of First Nations cultures.
Probus Club of Kingsway-Islington 