Daughters of the Deer

By: Danielle Daniel

Narrated by: Jani Lauzon, Tyrone Savage, Brefny Caribou

Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

In this haunting and groundbreaking historical novel, Danielle Daniel imagines the lives of women in the Algonquin territories of the 1600s, a story inspired by her family’s ancestral link to a young girl who was murdered by French settlers.

1657. Marie, a gifted healer of the Deer Clan, does not want to marry the green-eyed soldier from France who has asked for her hand. But her people are threatened by disease and starvation and need help against the Iroquois and their English allies if they are to survive. When her chief begs her to accept the white man’s proposal, she cannot refuse him, and sheds her deerskin tunic for a borrowed blue wedding dress to become Pierre’s bride.

1675. Jeanne, Marie’s oldest child, is seventeen, neither white nor Algonquin, caught between worlds. Caught by her own desires, too. Her heart belongs to a girl named Josephine, but soon her father will have to find her a husband or be forced to pay a hefty fine to the French crown. Among her mother’s people, Jeanne would have been considered blessed, her two-spirited nature a sign of special wisdom. To the settlers of New France, and even to her own father, Jeanne is unnatural, sinful—a woman to be shunned, beaten, and much worse.

With the poignant, unforgettable story of Marie and Jeanne, Danielle Daniel reaches back through the centuries to touch the very origin of the long history of violence against Indigenous women and the deliberate, equally violent disruption of First Nations cultures.

©2022 Danielle Daniel (P)2022 Random House of Canada

I feel like I'm better for having read this book

I listened to this book in one day. It was beautifully written and so compelling. The narration for Marie was done w/ a sort of hungry, urgency that felt so appropriate for the this story. Jeanne's tone was exactly what I would have expected. Throughout the whole book I felt like I was being transported back in time, watching events unfold as she narrated them. I felt their sorrow, and joy.. I gasped out loud in horror. It opened a window for me to a deeper understanding of that time in our history.. I'll be on the lookout for more from this author. Beautiful work, sister, miigwetch.

A good period piece!

Daughters of the Deer by Danielle Daniel is a story detailing a Métis family in the late 1600's here in what was once called New France, and the struggles particularly of the women of these mixed families at this time.

The struggles of the old religions of the Indigenous peoples blending with those of the new Catholic Christianity also in how they affect the women of the time. Also showcased in this story is how homosexuality was handled with the Indigenous peoples as opposed to the Catholic church at the time when our family we are following their oldest daughter comes out to be in a forbidden lesbian relationship.

An excellent story overall, but handled a bit heavy handedly towards the end. A solid 4 out of 5 star review.

Terribly violent

Could only tolerate 30 minutes. Horrible. Repetative violence. No reason for the graphic description