Review: The Seamstress of Acadie

Synopsis:

As 1754 is drawing to a close, tensions between the French and the British on Canada’s Acadian shore are reaching a fever pitch. Seamstress Sylvie Galant and her family–French-speaking Acadians wishing to remain neutral–are caught in the middle, their land positioned between two forts flying rival flags. Amid preparations for the celebration of Noël, the talk is of unrest, coming war, and William Blackburn, the British Army Ranger raising havoc across North America’s borderlands.

As summer takes hold in 1755 and British ships appear on the horizon, Sylvie encounters Blackburn, who warns her of the coming invasion. Rather than participate in the forced removal of the Acadians from their land, he resigns his commission. But that cannot save Sylvie or her kin. Relocated on a ramshackle ship to Virginia, Sylvie struggles to pick up the pieces of her life. When her path crosses once more with William’s, they must work through the complex tangle of their shared, shattered past to navigate the present and forge an enduring future.

Rating: 5-stars

Review:

The Seamstress of Acadie by Laura Frantz is one that takes me back to the colonial times during 1754. Inside this mesmerizing read, Laura Frantz takes a group of people from history and bring them to life on her pages. Everything that makes the Acadians is being taken from them during the French and British wars. The book reminds me a bit of the Disney’s Pocahontas tale. It too, featured a strong independent yet young woman defending and protecting her people. Sylvie is so much like the Indian princess that it’s heartbreaking. Trust comes and goes. Trust in the future has to be earned. Sylvie must learn to be brave for her and her people.

Blackburn reminds me of the hero on a mission but once seeing what that mission does to a group of people does not want any part of it. Instead, he might just join the opposite forces.

Laura Frantz creates worlds that pull the reader in deep and gets them entangled into the action and emotions of her characters. It proves hard not to fall for this cast of characters and their cause against the enemy.