Scan barcode
A review by thehannahwilkinson
Bear Woman by Karolina Ramqvist
5.0
A few months ago I went down an internet wormhole and ended up reading an article about people who had survived after being stranded on islands alone. It was very interesting and killed a few minutes of my time and then I promptly forgot all about it. So, imagine my surprise when I picked up this long-time languisher on my TBR shelf and realised that it is written about one of those desert island survivors!
Marguerite de la Rocque, a young 16th century French woman, who was deserted on an island off the coast of what would become Canada. Pregnant to a man she apparently met on board, her guardian, a member of the nobility, marooned her on the inhospitable island inhabited by bears and was surprised to find her still alive years later.
Sounds interesting right? Well the narrator of this book thought so too, she is a writer, who becomes somewhat obsessed with Marguerite, of whom there are very few credible accounts. The majority of the information known about her comes from historic texts written by men, men who probably had connections and allegiances to her guardian. Did he desert her in order to obtain her wealth? Did he do it because he secretly loved her? It’s hard to know, and the fictional writer in the book is determined to find out more.
This is a book about someone writing a book, it’s part biography, part memoir, part history lesson and it’s an incredible story too. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, there are many more questions than there are answers but I was utterly spellbound by the story and the writing itself. Simplistic and straight forward but beautifully and emotionally delivered. This was an absolute gem that I had hidden away, I’m thankful it is no longer deserted on my TBR shelf!
Marguerite de la Rocque, a young 16th century French woman, who was deserted on an island off the coast of what would become Canada. Pregnant to a man she apparently met on board, her guardian, a member of the nobility, marooned her on the inhospitable island inhabited by bears and was surprised to find her still alive years later.
Sounds interesting right? Well the narrator of this book thought so too, she is a writer, who becomes somewhat obsessed with Marguerite, of whom there are very few credible accounts. The majority of the information known about her comes from historic texts written by men, men who probably had connections and allegiances to her guardian. Did he desert her in order to obtain her wealth? Did he do it because he secretly loved her? It’s hard to know, and the fictional writer in the book is determined to find out more.
This is a book about someone writing a book, it’s part biography, part memoir, part history lesson and it’s an incredible story too. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea, there are many more questions than there are answers but I was utterly spellbound by the story and the writing itself. Simplistic and straight forward but beautifully and emotionally delivered. This was an absolute gem that I had hidden away, I’m thankful it is no longer deserted on my TBR shelf!