I will admit – this book I picked up purely because of the cover and the fact that it is Historical fiction. I’m super into the genre right now. 🙂 Covers like this one showing a woman’s back are quite common nowadays and we could do a whole analysis of such feature images. But anyway, in my mind, the cover does not do justice to The Forgotten Daughter. This is the story of two daughters who were forgotten or not made a priority for reasons deeply rooted in politics and the social institution. Take a look at the synopsis first:
1992: French-Canadian factions renew Quebec’s fight to gain independence, and wild, beautiful Véronique Fortin, daughter of a radical separatist convicted of kidnapping and murdering a prominent politician in 1970, has embraced her father’s cause. So it is a surprise when she falls for James Phénix, a journalist of French-Canadian heritage who opposes Quebec separatism. Their love affair is as passionate as it is turbulent, as they negotiate a constant struggle between love and morals.
At the same time, James’s older sister, Elodie Phénix, one of the Duplessis Orphans, becomes involved with a coalition demanding justice and reparations for their suffering in the 1950s when Quebec’s orphanages were converted to mental hospitals, a heinous political act of Premier Maurice Duplessis which affected 5,000 children.
Véronique is the only person Elodie can rely on as she fights for retribution, reliving her trauma, while Elodie becomes a sisterly presence for Véronique, who continues to struggle with her family’s legacy.The Forgotten Daughter is a moving portrait of true love, familial bonds, and persistence in the face of injustice. As each character is pushed to their moral brink, they will discover exactly which lines they’ll cross—and just how far they’ll go for what they believe in.
Content Notes: Sexual assault, smoking, political unrest, violence.
Thoughts on The Forgotten Daughter
Historical fiction is rooted in history and I love learning about the events that took place in the 20th century. The Forgotten Daughter starts in 1980s Quebec with the return of Veronique’s father after he completes his sentence in prison for kidnapping and murdering a politician. This introduces us to the separatist sentiments of Veronique’s family as well as the French in Quebec. I have read about Quebec only in the context of Canada as a whole so the book hooked me in from the very beginning.
Political Influences on Relationships
Like I mentioned above, the separatist movement in Quebec is an integral part of the story. In the second half of the 20th century, Quebec had two referendums to separate from Canada. The Forgotten Daughter presented it as the fight by the French in Quebec to improve their conditions – they did not feel like the rest of Canada understood or valued them. Through Veronique, I got insight into the mind of a person who grew up with those ideas and how much influence the political environment can have on personal relationships.
She meets James, a French Canadian journalist who is fascinated by her father, and they fall in love. Most of the book is about their relationship. While they get along well, politically they are on extreme sides. In her early twenties, Veronique is highly affected by her father’s legacy. Following in the criminal footsteps of her father and uncle, she is taking part in many smuggling operations, often putting her life in danger. James is on the lookout for the story that will make him famous, not realizing it is not worth it. I learned a lot about the separatist movement and how hard relationships can be when insecurities take root.
On the Duplessis Orphans
Another protagonist in the story is James’ sister, Elodie. Elodie’s story was the most heartbreaking. I learned about the Duplessis Orphans and how in the 1940s and 50s, orphanages in Quebec were converted to mental institutions to get more funding from the federal government. As a result, thousands of children were falsely classified as being mentally ill and did not get any education. Check out a good overview of the events here. The Forgotten Daughter presents the struggles of these children, now adults, in speaking up for themselves and getting the government to apologize, and finding closure.
Elodie’s choices in life and her struggles to connect with her family, even after they find her, is sad and eye opening to read about. When there is so much anger and injustice, it might be unclear which actions would resolve those feelings and make one feel better. For Elodie, it was finding the doctors, nurses and nuns who put her in that institution and asking them “why”. Their responses reminded me of how much their hands were tied to. If the direction from the government and church was to categorize the kids as mentally unfit to get more funding, some of key players genuinely believed that this would be for the best. At least they would be taken care for.
Connections
These could almost have been separate books but I can see how the characters supported each other. Veronique becomes a close friend of Elodie’s though they too have their differences over politics. I did not see many examples of their friendship in the storytelling itself. A lot of things were left to the reader to fill in the blanks with.
Neither the book title nor the cover or the synopsis do full justice to this story. While Elodie can be inferred to be the forgotten daughter in her title because she was given to the orphanage at a young age, her role isn’t significant enough as compared to Veronique. As for Veronique, she has never questioned her father and his choices. After growing up without him for the first decade of her life, she does not want to lose him later though as she gets older and meets people outside her community, the logic of his actions starts to bother her. I won’t say she was forgotten – the revelations in her side of the story were quite a roller coaster.
Overall, The Forgotten Daughter was a great book. I was invested in the characters and had strong feelings about their actions. I got the opportunity to learn and research history of Quebec and also ponder bigger questions about parents and relationships.
** The Forgotten Daughter is available in stores. I found it at my local library. Below are Amazon links for your convenience. Do let me know what you think of it if you read it. **
Amazon Print
Amazon Kindle
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Cover image: Photo by Ali Kazal on Unsplash
I have to admit that I’m only vaguely aware of Canadian history. One of my favourite way of exploring the past is through a good novel. It only recently dawned on me that the 1980s are now ‘historical’ and that I am a writer of historical fiction!
Haha now you can find some specific ideas to promote your historical fiction books. 🙂 I did not even think of calling it anything else. The 1980s seem so long ago that, the kind of problems in the society are a little bit different than ours.
Good point! I shall have to work on that. But I suppose it’s just a question of a person’s perspective. I often forget that the 1980s were 40 years ago 😉
Time flies! 🙂