Lightning and Blackberries.

Deborah Dowson is a Canaadian children’s librarian in North Wales,
Pennsylvania.

It is 1776, and Betsy is of an age where finding a husband should be her first priority. Her mother’s greatest wish is to see Betsy married into Boston society, the place of culture and sophistication where she herself came from. Betsy would rather stay on the farm in Annapolis where she has spent her entire life. Betsy’s father is pleased that she wants to stay close to home and his heart, but he also insists that she needs a husband. He hires a man to help work and manage the farm—a move Betsy finds irritating and unfair, even as she appreciates Mr. Jefferson’s work ethic. In spite of this, Betsy is determined to take over the farm until she meets Marie-Madeleine, a French girl who has been living in hiding in the woods with her father since the Acadian deportation. The realization that her beloved farm was taken from the Acadians grieves Betsy deeply, and she must resolve her guilt and remedy it before she can commit to her deepest wish.

The book has a lovely tone that is appropriately formal for a narrator of that time period, yet is also very flowing and natural. The description is wonderfully evocative of the place and expresses the feelings of the narrator with ease. The story is very introspective and serious, which feels very realistic, but if it were infused with a little more action, some humour, and especially a touch of romance, it would have much broader appeal. Recommended.