Here is a book review I wrote for a children's lit class in 2007. The review was on the Barnes and Noble site until recently:
Marguerite De La Rocque gets to go on a trip of a lifetime, and for a young woman in 1536, this is huge. One of the first women to colonize the Canadian Wilderness, she is chosen by her uncle, Jean-Francois de La Rocque, the Sieur de Roberval, whom the French King appointed as lieutenant general of the expedition. She persuades her love, Pierre, to join the crew of the ship, hoping for a chance they could run away together. A relationship between these two is taboo, since she is a Protestant and he a Catholic. Her uncle finds out about this relationship because the minister of the ship sees the two making love once they come into the New World. Marguerite and her female servant are kicked off the ship and left on an island, with only some provisions. The crew throws Pierre into the ocean and shoots at him, but miraculously, he survives and swims to the island to be with his love. They try living on the island, but the only survivors are Marguerite and the daughter whom Pierre has fathered. This novel of creative nonfiction is based on the true story of Frenchwoman Marguerite De La Rocque. This interesting story may prompt more curiosity in the colonizing of the Americas—especially because the story is told from the French perspective of the New World, and not the English one with which most U.S. students are most familiar. Goodman's writing is understandable although she uses some French words; she also includes an intriguing afterword that details what historians know about the true story of Marguerite.
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