What Makes You So Strong?

Book excerpt: When the fortress of Louisbourg fell to the British in 1758, the Acadians of Prince Edward Island (then known as Île Saint-Jean) were doomed to a horrible fate--deportation from their homes to an unknown land thousands of kilometres away. Shipwrecks and disease took a terrible toll during the voyage to France, and hundreds of the approximately three thousand deportees lost their lives. Earle Lockerby's meticulously researched account sheds new light on this tragic event, from its implementation to the experiences of the Acadians who eluded British troops and escaped to the mainland, to the deportees' arrival in Europe. Featuring excerpts from original documents and letters, Deportation of the Prince Edward Island Acadians is an important record of this neglected chapter in the saga of the Acadian people.