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Banished from Our Home: The Acadian Diary of Angélique Richard is the eleventh entry in the Dear Canada series. It was published in September 2004 by Scholastic Canada. The book was written by Sharon Stewart and remains her only book in the series. It was followed by Jan Andrews' Winter of Peril.

Dedication[]

"To the memory of my mother, Lucille Agathe Lépine, whose Acadian heritage is the inspiration for this story. And to Roderick, for all the reasons."

Book description[]

"le 7 mai, 1755
Victor is gone! He and Papa had a terrible quarrel yesterday. I heard their shouting clear out to the henhouse. Even
les Terreurs, who were making mud-pies in the yard, stopped to listen. When I got back, I found Papa and Victor very red in the face. Maman was sitting bolt upright beside the hearth, knitting furiously. This alarmed me more than anything. She never sits down in the daytime. Sausage was carding wool in the corner. Her big blue eyes were as wide as butter-skimmers, and brimming with tears. Sausage is so soppy! She cannot bear quarrels.
Papa shouted that Victor will put us all in danger from the British. Victor shouted back that we are already in danger. That Governor Lawrence hates us because he wants our land for pudding-faced settlers from New England. That we have to do something, not just sit and wait to be driven like a flock of sheep.
"

"Le 7 mai 1755
Victor est parti! Papa et lui se sont affreusement disputés, hier. Je les entendais crier jusque dans le poulailler où je me trouvais. Même les deux terreurs, qui étaient en train de jouer dans le sable au milieu de la cour, se sont arrêtées pour écouter. Quand je suis revenue à la maison, j'ai vu papa et Victor étaient tous les deux rouges de colère. Maman était assise toute raide sur sa chaise, au coin du feu, en train de tricoter avec frénésie. C'est ce qui m'a le plus inquiétée. Elle ne prend jamais le temps de s'asseoir durant la journée. Dans un coin, Saucisse cardait de la laine. Ses grands yeux bleus étaient ronds comme des soucoupes et pleins de larmes. Quelle braillarde! Elle ne supporte pas les chicanes.
Papa a crié à Victor qu'il allait tous nous mettre en danger face aux Anglais. Victor lui a répondu, en criant tout autant, que nous sommes déjà en danger. Que le gouverneur Lawrence nous déteste parce qu'il veut s'emparer de nos terres pour les redonner aux colons à face de lune qui arrivent de la Nouvelle-Angleterre. Et que nous devons agir, au lieu de rester plantés là à attendre qu'on nous emmène comme un troupeau de moutons.
"

Plot[]

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Angélique Richard is living in Grand-Prè, Acadia in 1755 with her parents and seven other siblings; Catherine, Victor, Claude, Cécile, Zachary, Marie-Josèphe, and Josèph-Marie. Angélique is collecting the first snow of May when she hears that Victor is running off with a man named Beausoleil to fight against the British to prevent them from taking Acadian lands. Victor does leave and leaves the family in despair and anger.

When Angélique's father signs a petition for the British to return the boats and guns of the Acadians to them, Governor Lawrence becomes furious with the Acadians. Angélique's father and the other men who signed the petition have to go to Halifax and they are imprisoned there.

Meanwhile, in Grand-Prè all boys (10 and up) and men are imprisoned in the local church by New England soldiers and then they are taken to ships in the bay. Not long after this all the remaining citizens of Grand-Prè are taken to the ships, as well.

Angélique and her father are split up from Catherine and her husband from Basile, since they are put on different ships. Angélique's grandmother passes away on their ship the Leynord not long after they are deported from their lands.

They are on the Leynord for 58 days before they land in Annapolis, Maryland. The people of Annapolis are furious that they have to find home for the Acadians but a kindly woman named Mistress Finnerty takes in the Richard family. While residing in the Finnerty household, Cécile Richard (Angélique's younger sister) dies from an affliction of the lungs. They all mourn her loss but then are forced to leave since Acadians may not reside in households where English Papists live (which the Finnerty's were.)

The Richard family leaves on a ship to nearby Baltimore and there a man named Andrew Stygar finds the Acadians an abandoned home which they all live in together. While here Angélique's father is released from imprisonment and finds his family at the Acadian house.

Epilogue[]

Historical Note[]

Characters[]

Main article: List of Banished from Our Home characters
  • Angélique Richard, a twelve-year old living in Grand-Prè, Acadia when the British try to take away their native land to give to incoming British settlers.

Author[]

Main article: Sharon Stewart

Sharon Stewart is a Canadian writer and editor. She is known for her historical fiction novels, The Princess in the Tower and The Last Duchess, and her fantasy Raven Quest. Banished from Our Home is Stewart's only entry in Dear Canada, excepting a short story in A Season for Miracles.

Editions[]

Awards[]

  • Best Books for Kids and Teens, Canadian Children's Book Centre, Starred Selection (2005) - commended[5]

Acknowledgements[]

"Thanks to Barbara Hehner for her careful checking of the manuscript, and to Dr. Neil Bouchard, Vice-president Academic and former Professor of Acadian History at Université Sainte-Anne in Nova Scotia, for generously sharing his expertise."

Notes[]

  • The portrait on the cover is a detail of the 1862 painting Portrait of a Girl by Otto Jacobi. The background is a detail of Claude Picard's 1986 painting Le départ vers l'exil, 1755.[6][7][8]

References[]

See also[]


Dear Canada

Orphan at My Door | A Prairie as Wide as the Sea | With Nothing But Our Courage | Footsteps in the Snow
A Ribbon of Shining Steel | Whispers of War | Alone in an Untamed Land | Brothers Far from Home | An Ocean Apart
A Trail of Broken Dreams | Banished from Our Home | Winter of Peril | Turned Away | The Death of My Country
No Safe Harbour | A Rebel's Daughter | A Season for Miracles | If I Die Before I Wake | Not a Nickel to Spare
Prisoners in the Promised Land | Days of Toil and Tears | Where the River Takes Me | Blood Upon Our Land
A Desperate Road to Freedom | A Christmas to Remember | Exiles from the War | To Stand On My Own
Hoping for Home | That Fatal Night | Torn Apart | A Sea of Sorrows | Pieces of the Past | A Country of Our Own
All Fall Down | Flame and Ashes | A Time for Giving | These Are My Words

External links[]

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