Pélagie

the long version

"Pelagie: The Return to Acadie is the funny, lyrical tale of how a valiant widow leads her people out of exile. In 1755, British soldiers had forced them off their land and sent them as far from Acadia as possible. Twenty years later, the scattered Cormiers and LeBlancs, Landrys and Poiriers, Maillets and Legers find their way to Pelagie's ox-cart caravan and head for home." "As well as the remains of her own family, Pelagie embraces a runaway slave, a gruff midwife, a giant, a fool, and a hundred-year-old patriarch who strikes a daring bargain with Death. Through fair weather and foul, over mountains and rivers, Pelagie commands a ten-year odyssey up the Atlantic coast from Georgia to Acadie."--BOOK JACKET.