Isola, Allegra Goodman, author, Fiona Hardingham, narrator
There is little known about the real person Marguerite de la Rocque, but this author has woven her own intricate tale about the young woman’s life, using beautiful prose, very authentic for the 1500’s, incorporating the cultural mores that existed then and coupling it with the class divide so prevalent and shameful, while she also addresses the appalling way that women were treated almost as non-entities, having no autonomy or any rights to speak of, which forced them to be totally beholden to their male guardians. There was little opportunity for redress.
As a young child, when Marguerite, an orphan and heir to a fortune, was placed under the guardianship of her cousin, de Roberval, she was forced to deal with a taskmaster who was unscrupulous, brutally cruel, and interested more in his own pleasures and ambitions than in caring for her. Rather than attending to her welfare, he attended to his own. He stole and squandered her fortune for his own seafaring adventures and extracted a terrible price for what he perceived as her sins with his secretary, Auguste. He had forbidden their relationship, which was star crossed and inappropriate, and perhaps because of his own desires, as well. Marguerite and Auguste were completely smitten with each other, however, and unable to resist their attraction, they crossed acceptable lines of behavior and crossed de Roberval. They had had the audacity to fall in love. As punishment, while on their voyage to the new world, he banished them to an uninhabited island, together with Marguerite’s devoted and loyal nursemaid, Damienne. They could only bring the provisions they could carry with them. Somehow, though, despite the odds, they all managed to survive for a time, finding the courage and skills to feed and shelter themselves. Soon, though, one by one, they began to succumb to the harsh environment. Even the child that Marguerite bore soon passed on, for she was unable to provide enough milk to nourish him. Marguerite found herself alone on the island and was forced to fight for her survival with whatever skills she had already amassed or necessity would teach. From where did her courage come? Was she faithful? Was she simply lucky? Was she stronger than anyone thought a woman could be?
Using what little is known from the two published descriptions of Marguerite’s life, the author combined the bits and pieces and envisaged her existence, and beyond, as she was forced to embark on a journey to the New World with her guardian. It is a tale of courage and faith that few would have shown, even today. The description of their lives on the remote uninhabited island is riveting. Marguerite survives, and even after burying her only child, she manages to fight on in an environment that is cruel and unknown. The author has created an imaginative and really interesting version of her life, exploring the hardships faced and the dangers overcome.
Based lightly on what little is known of the true story, the author has put words on paper to paint a picture for us of Marguerite’s life and rescue. Using her ingenuity and clever tongue, Marguerite convinces the captain of a small Basque fishing expedition to take her, with his crew, back to France. Thus, she again endured the hardships at sea, but soon was successfully reunited with her dear friend Claire and Claire’s mother who had been her former teacher. Sanctioned and funded by the Queen, Marguerite, Claire and her mother were then able to start a school to educate females and the poor, a practice once forbidden or believed to be useless and ridiculous.
The most interesting aspect of the tale, for me, was the illustration of the life of a woman, at that time, and the effort needed for her to free herself from the bonds of the man who tried so desperately to control her. Women were neither ignorant, nor were they weak. They were illustrious and capable of far more than given credit for as Marguerite definitely proved with her survival on an island that offered no creature comforts whatsoever. She was resilient and brave, intelligent and resourceful. Kudos to her and to all women who stood up, then and now, for their rights in a world determined to keep them down.
In a world in which the church played so large a role, it is sad that it did not recognize the strength of women except as subservient beings. Further, even those living in poverty looked down upon those who were poor and uneducated. They did little to advance their own cause, which kept them from becoming upwardly mobile and more equal to the elite who were above them in stature. The poor ridiculed their own when they worked for the rich; their allegiance was to their employer, not their peers. There was little compassion shown for those less fortunate, instigating a disadvantaged, impoverished lifestyle that perpetuated itself.
This was a story of survival under the harshest of conditions; that it could be obeyed and imposed upon a defenseless group, for such an infraction, was hard to believe. That anyone could survive what amounted to a death sentence was even more difficult to believe. The times were different, and thank goodness they have changed. No one could be castaway like that today for the crime of love, although some might disagree with that conclusion in light of how we are treating our criminal illegal aliens, no matter how justified, for whatever crimes they have committed.