A tale of resilience against the “damn British” that combines heritage and historical fiction.

The Acadians by Samuel Andre Aucoin

The extensive story of French Acadians living in America and the trial of one family over hundreds of years of persecution is revealed in The Acadians by Samuel André Aucoin.

Aucoin mixes history and light fiction to tell the often heartbreaking story of the Acadian experience in America. When Aucoin visits the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. with his granddaughter, he reveals to her that his fallen friend and comrade, Roger Robichaux, was also Acadian. When asked what an Acadian is, Aucoin unravels the epic story of the French who immigrated to a land called Acadia in the northeastern United States.

In the 1600s, Acadia encompassed areas of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Quebec. King Louis XIII of France was at war with England over control of Acadia. His decision to send farmers and their wives and children to Acadia to settle the population and develop a self-sustaining agricultural economy brought François Aucoin and his wife Yvette to Port Royal on the Bay of Fundy in 1636. Ta. Crossing the Atlantic with other families who had survived the danger, French immigrants deeply settled in their new homeland, befriending, trading with, and sometimes intermarrying with the powerful Native American tribes of Acadia. Mi’kmaq.

Aucoin blends the history of Acadia’s early settlement and its relationship with the Mi’kmaq people, imagining the scenes and conversations of their ancestors, and how the French settlers worked together and absorbed Mi’kmaq knowledge. Indicates whether you have acquired a new identity. The result is endless sadness.

“This community commitment, dependence on extended families, knowledge of the Micmac method of making village-wide decisions, and their own experiences with self-government shaped these French settlers into a new Acadian people. It was helpful.”

Acadia was divided between the French and the British, or as the Acadians called them, “Les Maudies Anglais” (the damn British). While the two superpowers fought for leadership, the Acadians handled their own conflicts and avoided both France and Britain. Aucoin’s ancestors remained neutral during the French and Indian War and other conflicts, keeping the Acadians at the mercy of those in power. French officials disliked the Acadians’ “selfish and unpatriotic attitude,” while the British burned and destroyed farms, ports, and other infrastructure. Because of this, and the long persecution that followed back in France, the Acadians never trusted the British. They called them Les Maudies Anglais. “Their fear, distrust, and hatred of the British were deeply rooted and passed down to subsequent generations.”

But Aucoin’s novel is more history than fiction. The dialogue between his characters is on the expository side, allowing men and women to bridge the gap in context and history through explanation. This novel is most effective on an educational level. The novel works on an educational level if the reader can overcome the stilted conversation that begins with someone entering the room to talk to another person. Aucoin’s ancestors appear briefly in each generation to explain how they reacted to the “damn British” and attempted to remove the British from Acadia through deportation to other British colonies in the American South. Shows effort. By the end of December 1755, just under 7,000 Acadians had been expelled from Nova Scotia to other colonies such as Massachusetts and Georgia. During this turbulent time, Aucoin follows brothers Pierre and Mondoux Aucoin, who immigrate to France in anger at the Acadians who took their jobs from the natives.

Why are there so many problems with English? Aucoin claims that the problem stemmed from the Acadians’ refusal to sign an unconditional pledge to the King of England. Their stated intention was to remain neutral in disputes and disputes between France and England. Although the Acadians were willing to sign a conditional oath (which stipulated that they would not bear arms against anyone), they always refused to sign an unconditional oath to the British monarch. Aucoin writes, “If the Acadians had known that this determined resistance to an unjust oath would ultimately lead to their complete destruction, Acadian history might have played out differently.” He explains.

Aucoin also includes the story of how the Acadians immigrated to Louisiana in 1764, became successful farmers and landowners by the early 1800s, and soon formed an offshoot of their lineage, the Cajuns. The outbreak of the Civil War, combined with forced Confederate conscription and Union destruction of Southern farms and infrastructure, devastated Louisiana’s Acadians, and after the war, most of them turned to “subsistence farming.” ”. Through it all, the Aucoins found a way to overcome their situation and survive to this day.

The Acadians is a pleasing combination of historical reportage and genealogical discovery, unburdened by a fictional plot or characters, and instead depicting a small but proud group of American settlers. Educate about the department.