INSPIRED BY TRUE STORIES
Which will you sacrifice-the father that raised you, or the nation you adore?
Acadia, 1755. Jeanne LeJeune has always lived between worlds-the fierce daughter of a French merchant and a Mi’kmaw woman, she is torn between the quiet rhythms of village life and the wild heartbeats of her mother’s people. But when her father is seized by English soldiers, her fragile peace shatters.
To win his freedom, Jeanne agrees to guide an English officer through the wilds of Nova Scotia-a choice that entangles her in the coming storm of war. What begins as a wary alliance soon becomes a journey fraught with danger, betrayal, and passion.
As the drums of conflict echo through the untamed heart of the forest, Jeanne must face an impossible choice: betray her heart to save her father or risk everything for the nation who shaped her soul.
Lush, romantic, and unflinching, Like Snow Before Sun captures a love tested by loyalty, loss, and the devastating cost of survival.
History within Historical Fiction? That’s kind of my thing. And if I read something that gets it right, then it’s really my thing. Marianne Rabalais Sulser’s LIKE SNOW BEFORE SUN is my thing.
I grew up in the southern part of Mississippi and am well aware of the Cajun/Acadian story. It takes a little time to get a grasp on it at a young age but at some point it hits, takes hold, and you get it.
Like Snow Before Sun gives the reader more depth than one might get in a history class or even casual conversations of great-grandparents. With this story you get the visual imagery and the visceral feel of events. And that may be because the author is inspired by her own ancestor’s history.
In the story we see conflicting feelings and loyalties within the main character, Jeanne, a part French, part Mi’kmaq young woman, and the Englishman, Harry, who tries to help her to gain her father’s freedom as well as others. I’m not going to tell you who else they try to help, as that would be spoiling it a bit.
But it’s not all about romance and adventure. There is also the story of right and wrong. The story of Harry and his brother George. Which is right and who is wrong? I guess you have to read to find out. And it also depends on which side is writing the history text.
I recommend Like Snow Before Sun. I’m a history guy, I guess if you’ve read my reviews you know that by now, I’ve mentioned it enough times. I’m also into researching my ancestry. That’s one thing I think connects me to the author and the desire to write. I trace my ancestry on one side back to the Mayflower’s second voyage to America. Yeah, the second one, not the first. That’s right, I came in second place… just my luck.
MARIANNE RABALAIS SULSER is a Louisiana native living in Colorado, but she still likes to laissez les bon temps rouler with her husband and three occasionally well-behaved children. Her maternal ancestors were among the Acadians expelled from Nova Scotia in the 1750s. She brings this over-looked history vividly to life through fiction.
When she is not writing, Marianne can usually be found in her garden, volunteering at Denver Botanic Gardens, or chauffeuring her kids to one of their many after-school activities.
Visit Marianne at her website.
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