Isola by Allegra Goodman 2025 343pg.

A story of French early settlement in Canada and Christianity 6/6/25

Heir to a fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of prosperity and gentility. Then she is orphaned, and her guardian—an enigmatic and volatile man—spends her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to New France. 

The novel introduces Marguerite de la Rocque, a French noblewoman born in the 1500s. Orphaned in infancy, her inheritance was squandered by her guardian, Jean-Francois de la Rocque de Roberval. He had been the kings boyhood friend.  Damienne, an older woman with an unwavering moral compass. Accustomed to  privilege, redefine herself when stripped of all material comforts and societal expectations. Contrasting the guardian’s oppressive use of religion as a tool for fear and control. 

This book deals with religion, morality, women's rights ,cruelty. The author lives a tradition Jewish life and her other books are on Jewish subjects this book is different as it is on Christianity.

 Guard against anything that will anger God. Her mother died in her childbirth and her father died fighting for the king in Pavia 1521(battle between France and Italy.) She has her chateau and estates of Périgord. Her guardian controlled everything until she could marry at aged 15. She had 3 maids looking after her and the steward collected the rents from the tenants. Ecu's d'or (gold) or later Ecu d'argent (silver)minted during the reign of Louis IX of France, in 1266. She had a music master who taught her to play and a tutor to correct her reading writing to be able a lady.

 Jaqualine d'Artois and her daughter Claire. We are ruined when a father dies. Claire had no inheritance but had seen the world with her she shared clothes and reading, she regretted she had no sister. The guardian mortgaged the  house and the Montfort's merchants moved in. Because he had reversals. 

In Greek legend  Griselda obeyed without  complaint Hypsicratea who fought alongside her in battle. Zenobia the huntress. Camilla raised in the wilderness by her exiled father Deborah and  the Judge Dido .  Queen Julia was Caesar's daughter. 

She told Claire you are Reason your mother is Rectitude and Damieone can be Justice. Your guardian lost a kingdom in his ships. The Montfort's have no title or history but are rich enough to buy both. Artemista  the queen loved her husband Mausalus and when he died she build a great tomb afterwards called a mausoleum.

Her guardian threw her a bag of gold and was astonished that she caught it.

One of the children has a drawing with a arrow through a stags heart. She saw  Claire as Penelope working at her loom while suiters paced below as hungry curs. Nicholas was interested in Claire and brought them venison and partridges but he fell when his horse reared and got crushed and died. She gave Claire her mothers Jewel as a parting gift.

1539 -1542 Roberval sent trunks for them to pack and go to a house in La Rochelle. When he was not home the creditors were hammering at the door. The servants also had to wait for Robavals return to get their wages. Claire and Madame D' Artois, and Claire would now be employed by the Montfort's. 

By now she was 20 and no longer considered a good match. The House in Périgord had been sold and was her home no longer. He had sold her lands to fund his expedition trading her future for his own. She tried to send a  message to Claire as she did not want to go on the ships. The maid given the gold for this used it to buy  her trousseau and got married on this, but her guardian was handed this note. Provisions were being readied for the ships and colonists with families recruited, they were all debtors.

She and Damieone got on one of 3 ships to head to La Nuova Francia what Cartier had called Canada. The headed towards the St. Lawrence river supposed to be the northwest passage to the Indies.  Psalms of David to the Rhyme of Clement Marot. 1496-1544 was  friendly with the kings sister, but never the less supported the reformation. Her guardian wanted her to know these  by heart. Because he was a devout person?

 Roberval was going to be the Viceroy of New France and would propagate the Catholic faith.

 1542 at sea. You had children as young as nine working learning to be seamen. They were on Anne but he also rules Lechefraye and Valentine. These ships were her inheritance and she was the instrument of her own exile. Robaval wanted greatness. She heard the sailors stories of serpents cracking hulls like walnuts and great jawed fish swallowing ships whole. Mermaids on rocks and cannibals eating seamen. They dreaded the voyage outlasting supplies. They were joining Cartiers on the established colony.

There was a brawl on a sister ship and she had to watch the 4 men being hanged. The colonist wives did as well. On the ship she begins to get friendly with Robavals secretary who tells her his story that his father was a merchant and taught him to read, but ship sailed on sank on the way to Cadiz. Now his stepfather who had him apprenticed to a tanner died and Robavel supports him. She becomes intimate with the secretary Auguste Dupre and he calls her Marguerite. What would Robaval do if he found us together. "Kill me said Auguste". "Sinners will be dammed to hell whether on the ship or the New World , I will exile them as lepers." Weevils infested the flower and rats the seed. Birds are the first sign of land. and after 8 weeks they arrived.

They saw Jacques Cartier 3 ships sailing east. The French Colony had been named Charlesbourg Royal 1541 -1543 when it was abandoned. There they were besieged by the natives who murdered all that ventured out. 35 colonist had died this way and another 20 from sickness and starvation till Cartier abandoned the settlement. Robaval instructed them not to return to France but during  the night they cut their anchors and vanished.

Augusta drew a sword against Robaval, he was tied up. She Auguste and Damieone were abandoned on an island with vegetation rather the pure granite ones they passed . The island trees were stunted but they found a nesting place for big birds and shot one, with his arquebus now they knew they had a source of food, in summer.

She felt she had to contribute and she tried to grow the seeds they brought and watered and nurtured the the plants but Damieone had warned her that the soil was too thin and just when she thought she had success the plants died.

Here they could live freely but with such uncertainty, Robaval had given them what they wanted most he gave them time, and eternity. When Augusta went to shoot a bird she went to collect eggs from their nests.

 Legendry Queen Zenovia left her palace armed with a sword and spear, while Princess Camilla grew up hunting. They fished and caught cod. Seagrass Damieone laid out to dry it became a tasty herb. The music instruments with them had warped and could not be played.

Before winter they found a narrow entrance to a granite cave. She was pregnant and dreamed of her son becoming a prince. The birds migrated away and with winter came snow and a white fox, an omen. You could walk across the ice to leave the island. Augusta became ill and died and they put him into an empty  trunk and covered it. A white bear  came and dug up the trunk and was devouring the body. She shot the bear and Damieone skinned it as a blanket and they ate the  bear but what was left was picked clean by other creatures. The hoped to kill creatures that came across the ice. A deer followed by 6 wolves but it ran away across the sea.

Her finger was thin  so that she lost Claire's ring. She gave birth to a healthy son but her milk did not come as she was starving. She used the afterbirth as bait to fish for cod in a hole in the ice. The baby died and no scripture could comfort her. Damieone cut her hand badly while cleaning a fish and she had to look after and provide for  her like she had been looked after by Damieone. Damieone told her that she had come to look after her. After Damieone's mother had died her family could not feed her on the farm. Robaval 3 vessels passed but ignored her signals he was sailing home after 1 winter. She felt he had cast her off as a thief might throw away a key.

Her ammunition would only last the season.

Damieone died of sepsis,  quietly she had been blameless for the isolation. Her body was put in the 3rd trunk and a cairn on stones was build on it. Margarita had never been alone in her life. A bear came into the cave entrance but could not fit in, and she shot it. The story of Lazarus moving the stone from the cave.

She finds Claire's ring in the cave. She sees 2 small vessels in the bay, open and with no flag, but a net and silver fish. They cleaned hundreds of cod and dried them in the sun. She discovers they are Basque fishermen and one of them can speak a plausible French from Navarre, on the French border. When they first saw her they thought she was a witch but she proved to them that she was a Christian as she repeated "Hail Mary full of grace in Latin" and she had a Royal token M for Margarita. She brought the jewels, coins , pearls secured in her pocket. She brought the picture of the lady to protect them, and watched her isle. prison, secret kingdom slip away. She slept with a knife from fear of the sailors. A storm came up and washed away half their stock of fish   as well as the virgin, rosary and new testament. They survived but their sister ship had vanished and they had to find there way , as they had been driven off course. The seaman had lost their comrades and the expedition had not paid. They met up with another larger Basque ship that had been whaling and had oil, teeth and ambergris.

The arrived at La  Rochelle and she went to the house of Jean Alfonse, her friend the navigator, but  her clothes were rags, they chased her away. In any case he was abroad. She slept in  the Cathedral till they were thrown out in the morning when she discovered she was not alone. She managed to get other cleaner used clothes and started walking to Périgord  and met with other pilgrims on the way the Camino de Santiago. When she got to the house there she pressed Claire's ring into her hand." Where did you get that? You gave it to me" I am disreputable now and have no claim on this house but charity. The Montfort's now owned the house, they had bought property and nobility. The Lady Montfort  was with the Kings sister in Bearn (in the Pyrenees)while her guardian was with the king.

Everyone knew about Charlesbourg Royal on the Isle of Canada, they had also heard of Cartier's winter there.

Marguerite had kept the bears claw  a trophy from the battle to show as everyone wanted to hear about how she dealt with the bear.

  Robaval wanted a word with her but she refused to talk to him. There was a feast for the arrival of the Queen but she could not eat any of it. She described how she survived with the Basque fishermen.

Claire would have been happy to go into a religious order but the  Queen gave Margarita  and bag of gold to set up a school for orphan girls and they 2 would go do this together.