ALLAGASH, Maine – Cathie Pelletier started writing a historical novel about the expulsion of Acadian refugees in 1998. Now, nearly 30 years later, she has released “Evangeline’s Journey.”
The book retells Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem “Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie.” The poem depicts Evangeline and Gabriel, a couple forced apart during the expulsion of Acadian refugees from Canada in the 1700s, and Evangeline’s journey throughout America to find him.
The novel is not only Pelletier’s first adaptation of an epic poem, but also her first young adult book. The story has special significance to many with Acadian heritage, Pelletier said. She was inspired to write it to keep the Evangeline legend — and knowledge of Acadian history — alive for newer generations.
Longfellow’s 1847 poem has become so ubiquitous among Acadians that many believe it is based on historical fact, she said. Years ago, it was not uncommon to see paintings of Evangeline in homes throughout northern Maine’s St. John Valley, which has a large Acadian community.
“One woman told me, ‘We have Evangeline on our wall and John F. Kennedy,’” she said. “It was a very big deal to my grandmother’s generation and even earlier.”
The diaspora displaced about 14,000 French-speaking people, whose ancestors still populate much of the St. John Valley, Louisiana and parts of Canada.
Longfellow was not the first American to write about Acadians, but he gets credit for popularizing the story of the Acadian deportation, said Patrick Lacroix, Director of the Acadian Archives at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
“He offered a sympathetic portrayal of the displaced Acadians when few were available,” Lacroix said. “In fact, in the years after its publication, ‘Evangeline’ was widely read and appreciated by Acadian leaders in eastern Canada. The book helped instill a new sense of cultural pride and confidence.”
The Acadian Archives launched an “Evangeline” exhibit in 2018, which featured art, books, costumes and other memorabilia from local residents, as well as people from Louisiana and the Canadian Maritime provinces.
Pelletier, whose breakout novel “The Funeral Makers” was translated into 10 languages and received critical acclaim from authors such as Stephen King and Kurt Vonnegut in addition to praise in several publications, has now written 14 books. Two books, written under the pseudonym K.C. McKinnon, were also made into movies.
She had an opportunity shortly after finishing the first draft in 1998 to have “Evangeline” used in an animated film, which she ultimately declined, she said. She didn’t see the story depicting her heritage as animation.
It went on the shelf for years, and she would occasionally pick it up, do a rewrite, and put it away.
“In 2014, before my sister died, she read it and just really loved it, and said, ‘You’ve got to get this out,’” Pelletier said.
She rewrote it and submitted it to a publisher, but decided it needed more historical context and did another rewrite.
The book includes illustrations by Paige Smiley. Pelletier sent Smiley photos of her great niece and Matt Cyr of Madawaska, whom she found while watching a recent graduation video, as models for Evangeline and Gabriel.
Her niece and Cyr are, fittingly, of Acadian descent, Pelletier said.
The School Library Journal, a publication for librarians and teachers who work with children and teens, gave the book a positive review and recommended it for use in the classroom for students learning about American history.
The diaspora may have been forgotten were it not for Longfellow’s poem and the diary of a provincial soldier named John Winslow, who helped remove the Acadians from Canada, Pelletier said.
“It wasn’t at a period of time when people really did a lot of recording,” she said. “If it wasn’t for Winslow’s diary, a lot of it wouldn’t have been known.”
The first part of the book closely follows Part I of the poem, but the second part is an original story.
“After Part I of the poem, I created an entirely new life for Evangeline,” Pelletier writes in the book’s introduction.
“Myheroine is a very different young woman. I gave her a persona that I hope resonates with today’s young adult readers,” she writes. “I am confident that Mr. Longfellow will understand.”
