The story is essentially about the history of Guyenne, a township north of Quebec that is the only population center of the Lac-Chicobi territory. Well, I say "population center" but the entire territory has total population of maybe a couple hundred. While the township was founded in 1916, there were multiple failed attempts by the federal government to get people to move out there and try to build it up. So it isn't until the late 1940s that the book starts with the arrival of Marcel Desharnais, the author's grandfather. A small group had established the area as a sort-of logging commune, where the timber they collectively sold would directly go to fund the building of community projects. Individuals would still earn their own money but it was very directly tied to the amount of effort they put in. This part was often overlooked by outsiders and the area was nicknamed "Little Russia" as both a misreading of both what they were attempting in Guyenne as well as Russia itself.
The particulars of how both the commune and individuals earned/spent money aren't really the focus, though. We instead see the outcomes of that as Marcel grows and thrives there. He gets married and brings his wife there after about a year, he buys a house from a resident who left, the couple starts having children, he slowly transitions from logging to farming his own land... Marcel's own struggles often reflect those of the community itself. The soil in the region isn't actually all that conducive to growing crops, so his harvests often aren't very robust, but federal logging rights aren't expanded so people find themselves at cross purposes. While they're able to purchase rights second-hand from neighboring regions who have given up on the area, much like Marcel buys land from neighbors who've given up on the commune, they eventually come to a point of unsustainability.
Meanwhile, Marcel's wife Antoinette finds herself becoming increasingly frustrated as women are not allowed to participate in the decisions of the community at large. Many of the rules are, in fact, driven by the local church and are expressly and pretty openly sexist in most ways, all but explicitly stating that a woman's role is to be perpetually barefoot and pregnant. (Marcel and Antoinette have eleven children, not counting any of the miscarriages.) But while Antoinette spends a good chunk of her time -- when she's not stuck in the kitchen or tending to her children -- advocating for a more significant role for women in their society, nothing ever comes of it before they eventually leave.
I found the story of Guyenne fascinating from a historical perspective. I'm nominally familiar with some of the United States' attempts to encourage citizens to move westward and attempt to establish cities, but I hadn't heard/read much about Canada's attempts at the same. Seeing that here, and particularly this attempt that was not especially successful, was very interesting. From my reading of the book here, it seems to me that a large part of the failure stems from not allowing women to participate AND letting the church be involved at all. It wasn't the commune part that was a failure but the automatic deference to an inherently mysoginistic and regressive organization like the church. And that Marcel not only willingly goes along with this, but often actively encourages it to me makes him exceptionally unlikable as a protagonist. I fully admit to having a fair amount of bias in this regard, but I could not muster any sympathy for him at all despite his own grandson obviously trying to present him as a likable character. I get that a half-century-plus ago, social mores and acceptable attitudes were different, but emphasizing such negative qualities so heavily do not even remotely make up for the "hard-working spirit of noble pioneers" vibe that I think the author is aiming for.
The story was told well, with several quiet, atmospheric sections. You could certainly tell when characters were getting frustrated with their efforts not bearing much fruit even when they don't expressly say that. The build-up to when they do finally let their anger loose is handled quite well. Tying the fortunes of the town to those of an individual resident also works rather well and provides a practical, on-the-ground look at the community's efforts. I just came away thinking Marcel was an ass.
Little Russia came out from Pow Pow Press in 2020, as I said, and shold be available from most book retailers. (Although I expect not many have it in stock at this point, it should still be order-able.) It retails for $19.95 US and $24.95 CAN.
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