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French Louisiana

annis
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Post by annis » Mon February 15th, 2010, 7:23 pm

I can think of a couple ( though not the one which has disappered into the mists of time)

Anya Seton "Smouldering Fires" --another "Green Darkness" type novel, where a character is inhabited by a French-Acadian woman from the past. Not one of her better novels, imo.

Antonine Maillet "Pélagie: the Return to Acadie" (English translation)

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Ariadne
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Post by Ariadne » Mon February 15th, 2010, 7:43 pm

Pélagie sounds really interesting, Annis. I hadn't heard of it but just put it on my Amazon wish list! I agree with you on Smouldering Fires, which I'd forgotten about.

Remembered one more on colonial Louisiana - Elizabeth Shown Mills' Isle of Canes begins in the 1730s. (The quote on the front cover is from an old review of mine. With exclamation points added!)

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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Mon February 15th, 2010, 10:54 pm

It looks like the best of these is Pélagie, which won the Prix Goncourt in 1979. It's not set in Louisiana, though - it's about an Acadian woman who becomes a slave in Georgia, and later makes the difficult journey back to Canada.

Hotchner's Louisiana Purchase focuses on Washington D.C. politics, Aaron Burr's scheme to set up his own colony, and the Lewis & Clark Expedition. It didn't get good reviews - too bad, because Hotchner wrote the well-regarded biography of Hemingway, Papa Hemingway, so this looked promising.

Smoldering Fires is about a 20th century high-school girl who remembers a past life as an Acadian exile in Connecticut.

The others are set in some part of southern French Louisiana, mostly New Orleans.

Thanks, everyone! I'll be adding all these to my website.
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Post by annis » Wed February 17th, 2010, 1:20 am

Another one for you, Margaret, set in 18th century Louisiana:
"The Passions of Princes", by Eloise Genest

And yet another, though this one was published in 1936, and is hard to find
Ruth Cross "Soldier of Good Fortune"
Historical fiction based upon the life of the founder of Natchitoches, Louisiana, Louis St. Denis. Natchitoches is the oldest white settlement west of the Mississippi.
Last edited by annis on Wed February 17th, 2010, 1:33 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Misfit » Wed February 17th, 2010, 2:13 am

[quote=""annis""]I can think of a couple ( though not the one which has disappered into the mists of time)

Anya Seton "Smouldering Fires" --another "Green Darkness" type novel, where a character is inhabited by a French-Acadian woman from the past. Not one of her better novels, imo.

Antonine Maillet "Pélagie: the Return to Acadie" (English translation)[/quote]

Annis, as much as I love Seton that is one that I could not finish. The *present* parts in the 70's are sooooo dated its unreadable IMHO. I couldn't last long enough to get to the parts in the past.
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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Wed February 17th, 2010, 2:34 am

Seton's work can be uneven. I had a similar reaction to The Mistletoe and the Sword, which she published just the year after Katherine. A great difference beween the sophistication of those two novels.

Thanks for the additional titles, Annis. Will add them both. The Passions of Princes appears to be self-published, though it has a better cover design than the usual self-published novel. Hard to keep up with the floods of self-published historicals!
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Post by Divia » Wed February 17th, 2010, 2:49 am

Not sure if this is the place to put it but..are there any novels about the unique relationships with blacks and whites during the 1800s before the American Civil war? I mean I know they had clubs with quadroons to find lovers n stuff. I would be interested in a book like that.
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Post by Ariadne » Wed February 17th, 2010, 3:16 am

Divia, ever read Lalita Tademy's Cane River? Another good one (not a romance though it's marketed as one) is Gretchen Craig's Always and Forever.

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Post by Divia » Wed February 17th, 2010, 3:27 am

I did read Cane River, but I'll try Always and Forever.
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Post by annis » Wed February 17th, 2010, 4:10 am

Posted by Margaret
The Passions of Princes appears to be self-published, though it has a better cover design than the usual self-published novel. Hard to keep up with the floods of self-published historicals!
I noticed that 2 of the 5 star reviews were by the same person- friend,realtive or neighbour? :)

Sara Donati's "Queen of Swords" features Pensacola and New Orleans around 1814, but it is part of the "Wlderness" series, and not a one-off.

Agree on both "Smouldering Fires" and "Mistletoe and the Sword", which was a very slight story- I almost wondered if it had been produced for the YA market.

Divia- have you read Anne Rice's novel "Feast of All Saints"? It's set in pre Civil War New Orleans, and is about the lives of "free people of colour". Barbara Hambly's "Benjamin January" series might also appeal, though they are historical mysteries.
Last edited by annis on Wed February 17th, 2010, 4:17 am, edited 2 times in total.

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