This might have been the scene of my book reviews subject.
Voyageurs paddling in a land unknown to most white men in the early 1800's.
But one thing is very peculiar....one of them is a woman.
In particular, a young woman from the Orkney Islands in Scotland
who disguised herself as a man and made the voyage across the ocean to live
and work in camps and eventually the fort at St Albany (James Bay) for the Hudson's Bay Company.
The only women who were permitted here were the native women who were employed as
washer women and used as what was called 'country wives'.
The book, based loosely on the true story of Isobel Gunn is most intriguing.
Less than a year after living and working amongst the men, she gave birth to a son, James.
Records are unclear of the true story of her pregnancy, whether she was raped,
or had an affair with John Scarth, but obviously she was found out.
This book is an amazing story of the courage of Isobel to go where no white woman
had been before, to live and work as hard, if not harder, than any man, coming
from a place and time where, frankly, men were men and women
had a role and a place in society which had many restrictions.
She was perhaps the first European woman to ever set foot in this untamed land.
Eventually she was sent home to the Orkney's, much to her opposition and the turn of events to follow, I will leave up to you to discover.
If you like historical fiction, a grand adventure, stories of courage, then you should
give this book a read.
