I really enjoy Laura Frantz's historical fiction stories, but my favorites are those set in and around Williamsburg. The female characters who ply a trade are most interesting whether it be a lighthouse keeper, lacemaker, chocolatier, or, as in this book, a seamstress. Sylvie Galant lived in Acadie, modern day Nova Scotia, in the mid-1700s, serving as a seamstress to the French Fort Beauséjour. She and her family fall victim to the eviction of Acadians by the English, in spite of their neutrality in the conflict with the French. The story tells of Sylvie's life after she and a few fellow Acadians were rescued when the ship they were placed on foundered in a storm off the Virginia coast. Frantz admittedly has written in some key characters who treat the Acadians as they should have been treated rather than as most Virginians treated them in actuality. That is the beauty of historical fiction, sometimes we can view events through a lens of what ifs. Of course the story includes a touch of romance with a brave hero, Major William Blackburn, a man of integrity and the conviction to do the right thing.
I give The Seamstress of Acadie five stars and am grateful to have received a complimentary copy from Revell via NetGalley without obligation. All opinions expressed here are my own.
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