Love the relationship between our protagonist and her father as well as the display of courage captured through her! Not typically my style of book and, while hard to read at times, is definitely a book worth reading if you enjoy adventure and light romance in between. Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC copy!

I love when history comes alive through a piece of fiction, and I believe that Marianne Suler accomplished this well through her debut novel, Like Snow Before Sun.

The story opens a window into a period of little-known history and an even lesser known people. Set in the mid-1700’s Acadia (modern day Nova Scotia), the story examines the tensions between the French Acadian settlers, the indigenous Mi’kmaq people, and the English government during the French and Indian War.

It focuses on the experiences of Jeanne LeJeune, who traverses three worlds. She is a devoted daughter to her French merchant father, helping him with his business. She’s also Mi’kmaq, the granddaughter of a chieftain, who lost her mom at the age of 10. And she is caught up in a land at dispute and under increasingly English power. When her father is taken prisoner by the governer of Halifax for refusing to swear an oath of loyalty to the British crown, she teams up with an English colonel named Harry Young to collect enough oaths throughout the province in order to set him free.

Jeanne faces many cruelties and troubles throughout the story, and along the way must wrestle with her own prejudice and learn how to trust an unlikely ally. Through her experiences, the novel asks many challenging and important questions, and examines the brutal complexities of war with an impressive honesty. Though we sadly know the outcome for thousands of Acadians as a result of this war, the story helps the reader gain more than just a cursory knowledge of facts. You walk away with a greater recognition of the loss and sacrifice behind the tragic reality of ethnic cleansing.

Recommend for anyone looking to read a solid piece of historical fiction!