The French Isles

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

In this sequel to The Girl from Away, Torontonian Andrea Baxter, about
14, is once more “abandoned” by her mother and new stepfather, who
are going off to Sierra Leone on a half-year teaching assignment.
Consequently, in June, Andrea flies to Newfoundland, where she will
again live with her Uncle Cyril, Aunt Pearl, and two cousins in
Anderson’s Arm, a small outport community. Shortly after her arrival,
Andrea accompanies her uncle and her cousin Jeff on a trip to pick up
Uncle Cyril’s new scallop boat. During the trio’s return voyage on
the July long weekend, they get lost in the fog and are arrested by a
French patrol vessel based in St. Pierre and Miquelon, islands belonging
to France and lying some 20 kilometres off Newfoundland’s south coast.
Though Uncle Cyril’s legal problems are quickly resolved, Andrea ends
up spending the rest of the summer on St. Pierre working as a translator
for two unilingual scientists. While boarding with Cécile Foliot, a
relative of Aunt Pearl’s, Andrea develops a romantic interest in
Cécile’s 17-year-old son, Philippe.

In lieu of an extended plot, Mowat offers a series of small,
disconnected episodes, such as the scientists’ encounter with bounty
hunters who are shooting seals. For those who have not abandoned the
book earlier, its ending finds Philippe bidding Newfoundland-bound
Andrea adieu and both pledging to write.

Brown’s decorative black-and-white illustrations, scattered
throughout, reinforce the book’s unusual setting. Not recommended.