Dear Bookclub,
With four members absent, three under the weather, Terrie, Terry and I took one for the team and convened to discuss Joan DeJean's "Mutinous Women". I feel confident those not present are grateful that this book is a big-check-mark-done. DeJean's work, dense with fact was a slog. It would be a treasure-trove as a launch for an author to weave an historic novel.
Researching DeJean and her deeply academic writings and contributions I discovered, sadly, that Joan DeJean died in December 2023, from ALS. Please read this synopsis of her life and accomplishments:
https://almanac.upenn.edu/articles/joan-dejean-romance-languages
DeJean created an interactive map of the French Quarter, pictured above, which can be accessed here: https://mutinouswomen.sas.upenn.edu/. It's an interesting tool in appreciating the lives of the 37 deported women who lived in New Orleans.
The interview below captures DeJean's fascination with the content of her book in a very spirited voice (wish that had been conjured up in her writing); I know you will enjoy it:
https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/Joan-DeJean-Mutinous-Women-French-Louisiana
Contemporary engraving depicting the departure of "comfort girls" to the New World. My twisting dives into the French women relocated to Louisiana, brought me this Wikipedia page about casquette girls. The page presents different aspects of the 'practice' of populating the New World by the French:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casquette_girl#
Trudy's suggestions for a upcoming read:
"Atmosphere" Taylor Jenkins Reid
"The Jackal's Mistress" Chris Bohjalian
"The River is Waiting" Wally Lamb
"Follow Me to Africa" Penny Haw *chosen
Up next:
Happy reading,
LK
