Wild Girl
Book not yet available in English
Summary:
The year is 1867. Nineteen-year-old Milly Burnet decides to leave her home town in Massachusetts to teach elementary school in Tolstoy, a small town in rural Montana. She wants to break away from her restricted, suffocating bourgeois life, but soon realises that settlers out west can be very conservative indeed… She must overcome their prejudice when she takes on a new pupil, seventeen-year-old Josh, who wants to learn to read and write. Josh spends all his time with the Cree natives and his brother is a terrifying bandit. He is rejected by the good people of Tolstoy, but Milly is determined to help him better himself. She can count on the help of her two friends Marceline and Meg, who, like her, place a higher value on love and kindness than on social conventions.
Edited by: Université Sorbonne Paris Nord
Comment:
Wild Girl is a gripping tale of personal growth with colourful, charming characters. Milly is a brave feminist who readily stands up to anyone who tries to make a “decent” young woman of her. She is very modern, eager for freedom and autonomy, and keen to fall in love with the men she meets. She is devoted to her work and her pupils and has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. The other female characters are along the same lines, particularly Marceline, a woman of independent spirit who cares little for conventions and other people’s opinions. Less prominent but equally strong female characters include Johanna, a former prostitute, and Meg, the sheriff’s wife. The novel is based on thorough research and sheds much light on the role of women in the conquest of the American West. The author, Audren, also focuses on the daily lives of Native Americans and the dreadful violence they faced. She is herself a strong woman, like her characters: she has written numerous young adult novels and is also a musician and producer of short films. Her bestselling books have been translated into several languages and have won many prizes. Le Paradis d’en bas [The paradise down below] and Il était une fois dans l’Est [Once upon a time in the east] are on the French Ministry of Education’s list of recommended novels.