Welcome to Litsy!

What an excellent book—a huge shoutout to the power of women over misogyny early last century, mostly set in #Canada but a few important moments in #Boston. The main character was raised to be a midwife. When a male doctor comes to town, he insists the old ways are dangerous and his newfangled ways (including forceps) are safer. There is so much to unpack about this book a short review cannot do it justice. In general, it speaks to the power ⬇️

“when the reading of such literature is associated with idleness…a woman‘s thoughts and feelings cannot be other than impure and sensual…novel-reading causes, at the very least, fretting, nightmares and a bad complexion.”

That explains so much! 😂

#foodandlit #Canada @Catsandbooks

My #comfortreadathon for tonight @BookwormAHN

#foodandlit #Canada @Catsandbooks

Reading now for #foodandlit #Canada @Catsandbooks

Enjoyed this book even though there was heartbreak throughout.

As a descendant of the Acadians myself, I waited far too long to learn about this pivotal event in history. When I was small, my Cajun family had always told me about how we as a French offshoot came to be in Louisiana, the expulsion from Canada, “le grand dérangement,” but it was so distant in collective memory, it was a sort of legend and was in a tl;dr format. I hadn‘t thought much about it, but I finally decided I‘d like to know the details.

This was such a great summer read and a debut novel to boot! The story is told from two points of view, Ruthie/Norma and her brother Joe, from a Mi‘kmaq family in Nova Scotia. During the summers, the family relocates to Maine for the blueberry picking season. When Ruthie is four, she is stolen and raised by an affluent couple. I loved how well I got to know both Norma and Joe and the writing is quite beautiful. This book needs more readers!

My partner and I are going to drive from southern Ontario to Nova Scotia (c/ our 15m old, heaven help us! Haha) and we need audio-tainment! 🤣 He's more a nonfic guy, I'm less into that unless it's intriguing to me, which often means crime genre, or maybe some good supernatural haunting, myths, legends of certain areas. The only thing with history I don't want to listen to would be about WWI & WWII.

Any suggestions for books or podcasts?

Although the end it wrapped up in a fairly trite bow, I cared enough about the characters have a bit weep at the final resolution.

Ruthie, the youngest member of a Mi'kmaq family disappears in Nova Scotia while her family works the blueberry fields. The novel tells her story as she grows up with the couple that kidnapped her, and also recounts how her birth family was affected by her loss. Peters‘ language is lush and well worth reading.

The plot is entirely predictable but the writing was lush and nostalgic enough to make it a good slow summer read. This starts with a chapter from a man named Joe thinking back to one summer in Maine when his family was picking berries to make money and his sister Ruthie disappeared.