Jacques’ Escape
Fourteen-year-old Acadian Jacques Terriot is being deported with his family to the British colony of Massachusetts. He longs to escape and join his older brother in fighting with the French. Jacques is about to set out on a journey that will teach him the true meaning of family and home, as well as what it means to be Acadian. Read the first chapter.
PUBLISHED MAY 2019 • ISBN 978-1-7753717-1-7 • HISTORICAL FICTION / MIDDLE GRADE • 144 PAGES / 2-COLOUR INTERIOR ILLUSTRATIONS BY HELAH COOPER / 5.35 × 8 IN / SOFTCOVER
EXCERPT
Jacques stared at Colonel John Winslow in alarm. Surely, he didn’t mean…he couldn’t mean what he said. The words echoed dully in Jacques’ head: “Your lands…cattle…livestock…forfeited to the Crown…and you yourselves…removed from…His Majesty’s Province.” Removed. Sent away. Deported. Jacques shoved his hands into the pockets of his thick wool trousers to hide their shaking. Henri was right; Lawrence did want to get rid of them. The English had threatened to deport them before, but no one had taken the threats seriously. Colonel Winslow of the English Provincial Troops was deadly serious.
REVIEW(S)
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I enjoyed how this book covered a lot of content while incorporating a lot of historical and French terminology in a short and concise book that depicts both human/family struggles and the search for what is truly important in life.
MICHAEL W, GOODREADS
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A must-read for all Nova Scotia history students studying the Acadian Expulsion... This story paints a very vivid picture of all these experiences for 14-year-old Jacques and his family, in a way that grabs the attention of the reader and holds it, until the very end of the novel.
SUE SLADE, GOODREADS
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by the English to Massachusetts and their life as indentured farm workers there. A different angle on Le Grande Derangement.
J. FISHER, GOODREADS
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while offering an easily readable tale of displacement and adventure, surrender and relocation. I enjoyed it enough to give a second copy to a young friend in grade six, and he liked it enough to present it to his class as a book report. YA readers of any age are sure to become as deeply involved as I was in Jacques’ story.
L. THOMSON, GOODREADS
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the futility of war and the need to embrace other cultures (while maintaining your own). However, Jacques’ Escape can be used by those for whom English is a second language, many of whom are displaced persons themselves, such as the recent intake of Syrian refugees by Canada…the (book’s) message is one of tolerance despite hatred and oppression.
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that is sure to resonate with readers young and old."
SAM FRASER, ATLANTIC BOOKS TODAY