Synopsis
We were so far away from any life we’d known. I wondered if we’d gone beyond God’s reach. Perhaps He couldn’t hear us from this wild land.
Next to the immense forest of eastern Canada lies the tiny wild Isle of Demons. In 1542 the young Marguerite, her maid, and her love are marooned on this island. At first, summer provides berries, greens, mushrooms, and rabbits and squirrels caught by snares. The exiles become increasingly resourceful, scavenging for food in the woods and on the shore, using every part of a slain deer—its blood for pudding, its bladder for a water bag, and its hide for clothing. They even build a home of sorts out of saplings and mud. But though it is little spoken of, Marguerite dreads the harsh northern winter to come. How will they ever survive it?
Based on the true-life heroine Marguerite de La Rocque, Paradise is a gripping novel of adventure, courage, hardship, love, and survival.
Claire Rosser; KLIATT - KLIATT
Goodman has written powerful historical fiction before and this novel is no exception. It tells the story of a young French woman, who comes to the New World in 1542 with her uncle as part of a first group of women to colonize Quebec. Marguerite is an actual historical figure and Goodman explains who she is and what is known factually about her. (This novel takes some liberties with the historical story, but essentially is based on the experiences of Marguerite de la Rocque.) This is a sweeping story of passion and survival. Marguerite is forbidden to love Pierre because she is Protestant and he is Catholic. They manage to come to Canada together but are caught and their punishment is banishment with Damienne, Marguerite's servant and friend, on an isolated island in the St. Lawrence River. With few tools and other means of survival, the three young people make a shelter and gather food to prepare for the winter. Pierre teaches the women to shoot and to set traps for meat, but before the winter comes, he is dead from eating poisoned mushrooms. Marguerite and Damienne get through that first winter, with Marguerite pregnant and Damienne weak from a respiratory illness. When spring finally comes, Damienne is dead and Marguerite must deliver her child all alone. The title of the story is obviously ironic, since their island is far from paradise. Yet, there are glimpses of that paradise, in the beauty of the wilderness and in the new beginning in the garden parallel with Pierre and Marguerite being a kind of Adam and Eve. Goodman gets every bit of emotion out of the situation: the love between Pierre and Marguerite, the absolute friendship between the two young women, the grief at the deaths,the anger at their unfair punishment, the coldness of Marguerite's father and uncle, the physical and emotional suffering described fully. This historical fiction will definitely have appeal to teenage readers. Category: Hardcover Fiction. KLIATT Codes: JS Recommended for junior and senior high school students. 2002, Houghton Mifflin, 209p. maps.,