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The Nine Lives Of Charlotte Taylor (2007)

by Sally Armstrong(Favorite Author)

3.93 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0679314059 (ISBN13: 9780679314059)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

Vintage Canada

review 1: This book of creative non-fiction describes the life of Charlotte Howe Taylor (daughter of English general Charles Howe Taylor), who rebelled against the strict and stifling life of a young English lady and fled to Jamaica in 1775 with her lover, the family butler, Pad Willisams. Pad had expected help from relatives who he believed were in Jamaica, but he died soon after arriving without having found any relatives. Dreading the life of a woman alone in Jamaica, Charlotte managed to board a trading ship bound for the eastern coast of North America. (The destination was the Baie de Chaleur, which was at that time in the large colonial Province of Nova Scotia.) The ship's captain, who she discovered was a friend of her father, surmised her identity and (fortunately for Charlo... morette) ensured her safety both while on board ship and during the first years of her life in Nova Scotia.The book tells a gripping tale of a determined and feisty woman who outlived three husbands and yet managed to provide for her nine children. It follows her from the community of native people (the People of the Salmon) who cared for and taught her during her first winter at Baie de Chaleur; to her homestead with Captain John Blake (and, following his death, William Wishart and then Philip Hierlihy) at Miramichi; and later to a new settlement at Tabusintac. There were many daily challenges which included building and maintaining a home to withstand the harsh winters; making clothing for the whole family from animal skins; gardening, cooking, and storing food for winter; surviving as a family in isolation indoors during the snowbound winter months; and accepting and adapting to the occasional wrath of the ocean and the weather. In addition, these were politically tumultous times in eastern Canada and the settlers learned to protect their families from invasion and their land from re-allocation to "new" settlers (following the formation of New Brunswick).This book touched me deeply. As the granddaughter of early immigrant settlers on the Canadian prairie 100 years later, I imagine my grandparents and my mother and her siblings living much as Charlotte and her family did. As a Canadian who chose over forty years ago to live in the Maritime Provinces, but who never bothered to study the history of the region, I am grateful for this introduction to the fascinating stories. As a person who attended secondary school with young people from a nearby Indian residential school, I mourn the greed and arrogance of the white people who assumed they had a right to take ownership of the land on this continent.This is truly an exceptional book about an exceptional woman who survived life in a harsh land on her own terms and whose story is remembered by thousands of descendants and now can be enjoyed by all.
review 2: Good books intrigue and keep you turning the pages. Great books draw you in and and wrap their soul around you until you feel that you are part of the landscape, and one with the characters of the story. The Nine Lives of Charlotte Taylor is just such a book. The fact that Charlotte is a historical rather than fictional character makes each aspect of her story that much more poignant. You read the book and immediately wish to reread it for fear you've missed some small detail. When you come to the last page and are forced to admit there is no more, you are left with a bittersweet heartache and know that Charlotte will be with you for a long time to come. less

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