The Circle Broken thecirclebroken.com Amazon Category:  Historical Fiction Publisher: Trafford Publishing ISBN-10:  9781426917974 Type: Fiction Pages: 245 Copyright: 2010 ISBN-13: 9781426917971 An intercultural romance in 17th century Canada between a French boy and a Wendat Indian maiden involving one real historic character, Robert Cavelier de La Sallle. The time: the 17th century. The place: the lawless unmapped wilderness of Canada. When Tikanaka, a Wendat maiden, pushes seventeen-year-old Remy Moisson into an icy Canadian river, he is furious. She later seduces him. As one whose boyhood has been in a French monastery school he is exhilarated by his first sexual experience. He is torn between a desire to be with his new love and his obligation, as an indentured apprentice of the French explorer Robert Cavalier de La Salle, to accompany the great man in his search for the mouth of the Mississippi. Remy and Tikanak become unwitting pawns in the enmity between Jesuit Father Laurent, who wants to make Tikana the first American Nun in the New World and La Salle, a Jesuit apostate, who values a helper with a good education. Returning from a voyage of danger and adventure, Remy learns that Tikanaka’s Wendat Tribe has been attacked and massacred by the Iroquois. After visiting the terrible scene of the massacre he refuses to believe that she is dead. There are rumors of survivors. He sets out in a canoe with his friend Pierre, an illegal fur trader (coureur de bois), to find his missing love.    Excerpt Remy made his way around the circle of destruction, stirring up clouds of ashes. Without plan or purpose he wandered among human remains. Came a horrific thought. There had been nobody left to care for the dead. His mind refused to accept what his eyes were revealing. He picked up a long stick and started poking around in the mounds of ashes, uncovering fragments of melted cooking pots, children’s toys, the skeleton of a dog. From pile to pile he went digging furiously. In one heap of blackened remains he uncovered almost at eye level something that caused him to stop short. Remy was looking into the remnants of a woman’s face surrounded by wisps of singed black hair. He stared into those eye sockets and tried to reach out but his arms would not obey. He dropped his stick. Through waves of nausea he made his way toward a tree at the edge of the circle. Wrapping himself in a deerskin cover beneath its shelter, he pulled the skins up over his head and waited for sleep to come.

Kirkus Discoveries
New novel by retired educator Professor Johnston explores competing claims of love, commerce and religion in 17th century Canada.

This work of historical fiction mines the author’s long-standing interest in Native American History and culture in order to craft an account of the early days of European settlement in Canada. The narrative follows Remy Moisson, a young Frenchman who has abandoned a promising Jesuit education to seek his fortune overseas. Through Remy’s actions and journal the reader gains an insightful picture of a representative young man’s intellectual and personal development as he encounters the differing perspectives of his peers and the peoples of the New World. Most important is his experience of falling in love with Tika, a young Wendat woman, who serves as a liaison between the local Jesuit Missionary and her tribe. As the novel unfolds, the romance not only places both Remy and Tika in grave danger, but also forces each to confront the other’s traditional practices and beliefs.
The theme of cultural friction is not limited to the story of the star-crossed lovers. Johnston skillfully depicts the competing perspectives of commercial explorers and missionaries, showing validity in each, even as both are subtly critiqued. Among the strongest passages in the novel are the fictional letters exchanged between Jesuit priests on far-flung missions.
Johnston adeptly conveys these characters’ fears and aspirations while also giving a convincing sense of the frames of reference. Although some readers may wish that Johnston had drawn the protagonists with equal subtly, Remy in fact fits the long tradition of upstanding adventure heros, such as Jim Hawkins of D’Artagan, upon whom a wide range of readers can project their own personalities. In any event, the complex character of Tika, caught between love and tradition, provides an insightful point of contrast. Though the brisk narrative sometimes drags, readers will nonetheless find themselves enriched by the various bits of historical information Johnston has succeeded in weaving into his story. An interesting, informative account of the beginnings of European settlement in North America.