Beverly Butler (1) (1932–2007)

Before this, I'd only read one book by Beverly Butler: Gift of Gold, a soul-searching kind of novel (contemporary fiction at the time it was published, 1972) with wit and wisdom. That book, which I've read at least three times, is rather different from Song of the Voyageur.

This first novel of Butler's, published in 1955, is historical fiction where the "general situation and most of the events described...are drawn directly from historical facts" but peopled with fictional characters, set in the author's native Wisconsin. Or "Ouisconsin," what with the book's French-speaking folks.

Now, from the beginning, it almost felt like I'd entered the middle of a story or series where I was already supposed to be familiar with the characters, already invested in their lives, but I wasn't. Besides my expectation for some romance to factor into the overall outcome for Diane, the heroine, much of the story's "general situation" seemed to be a general look at a family and their various doings in and around their frontier cabin. Even with some important, dramatic events popping up, I didn't get the best sense of a focused plot during maybe half or more of the book.

Yet, even though my interest remained only on the mild side, my historical-fiction-loving self still found the old-fashioned reading to be pleasant, with a little thread of intrigue that eventually made me go "hmm." Granted, one specific moment that wasn't pleasant for me involved Diane and the romantic hero. (She said you're hurting her, dude. So let go of her wrist. Just because you want to marry her doesn't mean she owes you anything.) But on the whole, I didn't run into as many offensive moments as I thought might be possible.

See, given that some of the characters' racism toward indigenous peoples would burst out here and there, I was admittedly relieved not to see their ugly words portrayed as acceptable or just a matter of course. (Yes, I get nervous when I don't yet know how an author will handle a historical story's racial aspects, especially in older books.)

And I must say that as the heroine came to a particular realization toward the end, a few of the novel's lines gave me glimpses of the author who would one day write the excellent Gift of Gold.… (mais)