Desolate Harvest is a story of family and faith, and of the struggle to preserve a cherished way of life, just as the balance of power in the New World is about to undergo a sea change. In prose that ranges from the lyrical to the stark, it tells of a people who inhabit a land divided by foreign powers-a fertile, coveted, strategically situated land called Acadie.
It is a story of hope in the face of one of the most heinous mass deportations in modern times.
Spring, 1755. Eastern Canada. The British fleet is massing for an attack on Fort Beauséjour, the French stronghold on the border between British Nova Scotia and French Canada. Travel between the territories is punishable by death. In Nova Scotia, Josette Thibodeau is delighted when her beloved, Bénédict Doucet, defies the ban in order to finalize their marriage contract. Yet, just as their families sit down with the notary, the British fleet is sighted, bound for Beauséjour.
Bénédict and his father must flee back to the French side without concluding the formalities. At home, Bénédict rushes to help defend Beauséjour, and finds himself embroiled in a far different adventure than he anticipated. Meanwhile, Josette struggles to hold onto hope as, a few at a time, her menfolk disappear into enemy hands, leaving the women of her habitation defenseless under military occupation. Guided by her eccentric Tante Philomène, she must learn to navigate a frightening new landscape.
Desolate Harvest is the first in a series of novels about the Acadian Diaspora.
