By Paul Carrier
In 1847, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published an epic poem entitled Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie. It told the story of the eponymous Evangeline and her lover Gabriel, who were separated when the British expelled the French-speaking Acadians from Nova Scotia, in the 18th century.
Now author Ben Farmer has written a novel entitled Evangeline that covers the same territory. His 21st-century retelling of the tragic tale, while moving, is not as compelling as it should be considering the story’s high drama.
Farmer’s well-plotted novel carefully describes the natural beauty of the landscape through which Evangeline and Gabriel travel in their quest to be reunited. But some of the writing has an opaque, dense feel to it, which makes for slow going from one page to the next.
The novel includes a helpful, and helpfully brief, overview of the history of Acadia, providing useful context for readers unfamiliar with the deportation of more than 10,000 Acadians over the course of several years, starting in 1755. This massive expulsion, known in French as Le Grand Dérangement, has been likened by some to more recent cases of ethnic cleansing.
The fictional tale of Evangeline, and the real-life story of the Acadian diaspora, resonate with me because my wife and I both have Acadian ancestors who were forced from their homes during the expulsion. So I picked up Evangeline with great expectations. But the novel, saddled as it is with one-dimensional characters, doesn’t focus enough on their development to pull in the reader.
The story begins in 1755, when the traditionally neutral Acadians, who have refused to take sides in imperial wars, realize that the English rulers of “Acadie” are no longer willing to tolerate a Catholic, French-speaking population in their midst.
As France and England wage the final, decisive war for control of North America, British troops and allied New England militia seize the Acadians’ guns and boats, fueling speculation among the Acadians that the worst is yet to come.
While the Acadians debate whether to fight, flee or negotiate, Acadia’s English rulers order the wholesale expulsion of the Acadian people, without compensation for the homes and lands they must leave behind.
The plight of the Acadians of Grand Pré is heartbreaking as they abandon their homes and drag what few belongings they can carry to the waiting English ships. Evangeline successfully conveys the horror and cruelty of the deportation, which effectively decimated the French population of Acadia.
In the midst of this chaos, Evangeline Bellefontaine and Gabriel Lajeunesse are separated, only days before they are to be married. Gabriel and his father are shipped to South Carolina, while Evangeline, whose father dies shortly before the refugees leave Grand Pré, finds herself aboard a ship bound for Baltimore.
In alternating chapters, Farmer chronicles Evangeline’s sojourn in Maryland, including the hostility the Acadian refugees experience during the French and Indian War, as well as the wanderings of Gabriel and his father, who flee South Carolina and spend time with the French garrison at Fort Duquesne before heading south to New Orleans.
When Evangeline, hoping to reunite with Gabriel, sets out for the Mississippi River and Louisiana with several traveling companions, the novel’s narrative thrust picks up steam. But Farmer’s commendable attention to setting and plot fail to compensate for the shallowness of his characters, and I was relieved when I finally reached the closing pages.
