Maia Caron. Click here for largerpicture.
Song of Batoche, a novel by MaiaCaron. Click here for larger picture.
Métis Nation of Ontario citizen Maia Caron is the author of Song of Batoche, a historical novel that will be published by Ronsdale Press on September 30, 2017. Song of Batoche is an epic retelling of the North-West Resistance of 1885, where the women are key players in Louis Riel’s prophetic mission.
The story is told in the perspectives of Louis Riel, Gabriel Dumont, Madeleine Dumont, Marguerite Riel; Father Moulin, Batoche Catholic priest; and Lawrence Clarke, Chief Factor for the Hudson’s Bay Company. At the heart of the novel is Josette Lavoie, a Métis woman whose kinship with Chief Big Bear inspires Riel to make her his confidante. The part played by the Métis women, the subversive role of the church, Riel’s growing religious fervour and Dumont’s guerrilla tactics are explored in vivid detail until the final moment when Middleton’s troops overrun the Métis rifle pits.
Caron’s book launch will be held on September 30 at her great, great- grandfather, Jean Caron Senior’s house, which is now a museum at the Batoche National Historic site in Saskatchewan. At the launch, Caron will read a scene from her book that recounts the Dominion army’s opening salvo on Batoche from the perspective of Gabriel Dumont in a rifle pit behind the church and rectory.
Caron’s ancestors were Red River Métis who moved to Batoche in the 1870’s. Caron’s great, great, great-grandfather, Pierre Parenteau was Chairman of Riel’s provisional government in 1885. Her great, great- grandmother Marguerite Caron (Dumas) confronted Riel while he was praying, to demand that he send ammunition and reinforcements to the Métis fighting at Tourond’s Coulee.
Song of Batoche is Caron’s first novel.
Posted: September 6, 2017