Book of the Week #45

The Innocent Victim: A Franco-American Civil War Novel by Adélard Lambert ; translated by Margaret S. Langford in collaboration with Claire Quintal (Bennington, Vt.: Images from the Past, 2008)




Originally published in 1936 as a serialization in the Ottowa newspaper Le Droit this is the story of a French Canadian couple separated by the Civil War. The story begins in 1899 with the discovery of a skeleton beneath a Manchester, NH building. Margaret S. Langford, a professor of French at Keene State College translated the novel into English.



In his foreword Robert Perreault suggests that this novel might find readers among "lovers of historical fiction or of mysteries, students of Québécois or immigrant history, Civil War enthusiasts, New Englanders, Franco-Americans, residents of Manchester or of Lowell -- where more of the action takes place -- and anyone seeking a few hours of literary enjoyment." (p. xvi)



In addition to the novel, this volume includes information on the author; the real-life mystery of the discovery of the skeleton; and a bibliography and resource lists on Franco-American history and literature.



Thanks to Images from the Past publisher Tordis Ilg Isselhardt for providing me with a copy of this book!