Not sure any of these titles would have been included in a Nor’westers library!
As winter approaches, my list of fur trade related projects always grows: make new items of historic clothing. Repair and improve my camp gear. Try out new historic receipts. Research, research and more research.
To me, research usually means reading. And there’s nothing better than a good book to pass the time and inspire me to improve my interpretation. Two hundred years ago, the North West Company provided reading materials to help alleviate the isolation of winter posts. Company founders obviously knew the importance, power, and joy to be found within books.
Daniel Harmon, a North West Company clerk, wrote,
Most of our leisure moments (and which is nearly nine tenths of our time) will be spent reading, and conversing on what we have read.
Surprisingly, there are few novels about the fur trade. Perhaps creating fiction from a world already filled with adventure and colorful characters strikes many aspiring writers as a futile enterprise?
Still, a few authors have tried, particularly those writing what is called YA (young adult) fiction . . . with mixed results. Some of the following titles might be worth reading; many can be found in the La Compagnie library:
What to choose? So many books, so little time!
The Broken Blade. William Durbin. (New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers, 1997)
In 1800, thirteen-year-old Pierre La Page signs on to be a voyageur, leaving Montréal and paddling twenty-four hundred miles into the wilderness.
Canoe Lady: A Novel of Artist Frances Anne Hopkins’ Years in Canada. Dot Wilson. (Olympia, WA: Boundary Line Books, 2007)
Historic figures meet fictional characters: in the 1860s, a young British woman travels via birch bark canoe through the fur trade routes of Canada. The big question: how can this mother of eight manage an art career and her role as society lady in Victorian Montreal?
Eagle Fur. Robert Newton Peck. (New York: Knopf, 1978)
Yet another variation on the “young man meets fur trade, confronts danger, makes decisive move, transforms life” story. This time it’s 1754 and the French and Indian War is brewing.
The Secret Cache; an adventure and mystery story for boys. E. C. Brill. (New York: Cupples and Leon, 1932, reprinted 2015)
Sixteen year old Hugh Beaupre has always hoped to join his father Jean Beaupre in the wilds where he lives as a free trader. After months of waiting, a letter comes from a brother Hugh did not know he had, the son of his father’s country wife. You know where this is going.
The Red Sash. Jean E. Pendziwol, pictures by Nicolas Debon. (Toronto: House of Anansi Press, A Groundwood Book, 2005)
A young Metís boy and his family help prepare for the great feast in the Great Hall at Fort William during the annual rendezvous of the North West Company.
Shadows on the Rock. Willa Cather. (New York: Penguin Books, 1931, reprinted 1995)
To twelve-year-old Cécile Auclair, seventeenth century Quebec is an island of French civilization perched on a bare gray rock amid a wilderness of trackless forests. Cather follows Cécile over the course of a year, re-creating the continent as it must have appeared to its first European inhabitants.
Trouble at Fort La Point. Kathleen Ernst. (Middleton, WI: Pleasant Company Publications, American Girl/History Mysteries, 2000)
In 1732, twelve-year-old Suzette hopes her father will win a fur trapping contest so that he can quit being a voyageur and stay with his Ojibwe family year-round.
The Voyageur’s Paddle. Kathy-jo Wargin, illustrations by David Geister. (Chelsea, MI: Sleeping Bear Press, 2007)
Young readers follow a young voyageur on the yearly fur trading cycle from wintering post to Grand Portage, annual rendezvous of the North West Company. You know the illustrations are fabulous!
Voyageurs, A Novel. Margaret Elphinstone. (Edinburgh, New York: Canongate, 2003)
Presented as a manuscript discovered by the author, this is the story of Mark Greenhow, whose sister, Rachel met and married Adam Mackenzie, a Scot associated with the fur trade, then disappeared.
Waters Like the Sky: The Chronicles of an Unlikely Voyageur. Agnes Rajala and Nikki Rajala. (North Star Press of St. Cloud, 2014)
Determined to locate missing brother, thirteen-year-old André joins a brigade bound for the wilderness and a season of trading for furs.
Wintering. William Durbin. (New York: Dell Books for Young Readers, 1999)
In this sequel to The Broken Blade, Pierre La Page, now fourteen, is ready to become a hivernant, to “winter over,” trapping and trading furs with a crew in the north.
With Pipe, Paddle, and Song: A Story of the French-Canadian Voyageurs circa 1750. Elizabeth Yates. (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1968)
A young French-Indian boy leaves his familiar life in Montréal to join a brigade of voyageurs traveling deep into the pays d’en haut.
Wild Ecstasy. Cassie Edwards. (New York: Penguin Books, 1992, reprinted 2016)
Minnesota wilderness, 1824. Beautiful white heroine. Tyrannical father. Handsome, daring Chippewa warrior. Romance fans give it five stars. Enough said.
So, now that your rendezvous gear is packed away for the winter, what’s on your reading list?