The Conquest of Canada: A Novel of Discovery.

This is a new edition of a novel first published in 2006, its illustrative material expanded to include three illustrations in addition to the two maps from the earlier publication.

The title correctly suggests a narrative of epic scope, and the story takes the reader from wretched Huron villages in the Canadian forests to a miserable prison cell in France, from the ill-fated French settlements on the Atlantic coast to the island Abbey of St. Michel off the coast of Brittany, and even to a chamber in Paris where Cardinal Richelieu, the devious political priest who governed France in all but name, discusses the future and fate of New France with his King. They have just a cameo appearance, but Wendell Messer, whose previous novel satirized our highway traffic culture, has done impressive research and other historical personages loom larger in his tale: rogues such as Étienne Brûlé and the colourful turncoat Claude de la Tour. William Alexander, important in the early history of Nova Scotia, appears briefly, as do the Kirke brothers, whose bloodless capture of Quebec for England is the final major scene in the novel. We meet even Abraham Martin, an early settler about whose farmland one character actually says, “These are your plains. These are the Plains of Abraham.” More prominent are François Pontgrave, commander for two years at Quebec, and the Jesuit priest, Pierre Biard, who believes his order will meet with success in converting the heathen if only he can find a small bone, a holy relic brought from Europe, which has gone missing. Above all looms Samuel Champlain, whose presence is felt even when he is offstage, and his unfortunate young wife whom we last see in France as Champlain selects for her a nunnery where she will spend the rest of her days.

Stirring action includes an escape from Indian tortures, Turk pirates on the Atlantic coast, a siege of Quebec by the Iroquois, and a few other adventures, but it sometimes seems like most of what the characters do is talk. They tell stories of their earlier adventures. They endlessly discuss the ambitions and failures of efforts to convert the Indians—“the conquest of Canada” as one priests says. At times the superstitions of the French seem indistinguishable from those of the Indians. “Oh, hurry with your story,” says a minor character; “Get on with it.” The reader sympathizes.

Messer vividly illustrates the scandalous rivalry between the Recollets and the Jesuits, and paints a fine and beautiful picture of the environment in which his tale unfolds; his descriptions of the rivers and forests are vibrant, as is his depiction of the settlement at Quebec, especially in winter. But too often, perhaps in an effort to make the novel one of “ideas,” overlong conversation intrudes and becomes a bit wearisome. It can be amusing, as when a character tries to persuade colleagues of the pleasures of an “infidel potion” called cafféa, but some of it stretches credulity, as when Brulé and Champlain deliberate the meaning of honour and what might be their places in history, while fighting for their lives against attacking Iroquois; their philosophical converse is interspersed with “Good shot, Étienne!” or “You missed.”

Another historical personage who appears for a short time is the future martyr, Jean de Brébeuf, who comes ashore “as if he owned the place,” an example of hackneyed writing that appears infrequently but should have been caught by a caring editor. In fact, an editor who used her blue pen liberally could sculpt from this overlong, alternately engrossing and plodding work, a fine historical novel.