Angelique, Book 3: Autumn Alone

Elisabeth Anne MacDonald-Murray teaches English literature at Brandon
University in Manitoba.

In her final two instalments in the continuing adventures of Angelique
Dumas, the young Metis girl from 1870s Batoche, Cora Taylor depicts the
gradual maturation of her youthful heroine as she takes on more adult
responsibilities to help her family prepare for the oncoming winter and
the arrival of a new baby.

In Autumn Alone, Angelique is disappointed that she cannot go on the
annual buffalo hunt with her father and brother and the rest of the
community, and has to stay home. But what promises to be a quiet and
boring fall without the excitement of the hunt turns out very
differently as the mother and daughter’s roles are reversed, and
Angelique has to care for her weak and ailing mother. In Angel in the
Snow, Batoche is in the grip of a harsh prairie winter, and while Mme
Dumas must stay with the local midwife until she reaches the end of her
difficult pregnancy, Angelique is responsible for her mother’s
domestic duties. Once again, Angelique must employ both her brains and
her courage to help her family.

As in the other books in the Our Canadian Girl series, the story of
Angelique provides an entertaining and compelling glimpse of life for a
young girl in a particular historical time and place. The books depict
the realities of everyday life in the historical period through a wealth
of details—what they ate, how they dressed, what they played—that
brings the characters to life. Highly recommended.