Short stories
The Lane that Had No Turning
Sir Gilbert Parker · 1900
Opening lines
His Excellency the Governor—the English Governor of French Canada—was come to Pontiac, accompanied by a goodly retinue; by private secretary, military secretary, aide-de-camp, cabinet minister, and all that.
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
Pontiac, an imaginary village in Quebec. Madelinette Lajeunesse, the blacksmith's daughter, returns from Paris as a famous singer; she has married Louis Racine, an ardent young seigneur who wants to revive the privileges of former days. On the wedding day, Racine discovered that a family ailment, which had skipped two generations, has struck him: he is becoming hunchbacked. Fearing his wife's disgust, he turns his seigneurial honour into a mania, in the face of the Englishman George Fournel, to whom the estate had been promised. One day, Madelinette finds the old seigneur's will. Twenty other stories from the same village follow.
Context
The Pontiac cycle had begun in 1892 with very short tales commissioned by the Illustrated London News, and the tale that gives the volume its title is, according to the author, the last one written. The collection appeared in 1900, the same year from Doubleday in New York, from Heinemann in London and from Morang in Toronto. The author dedicated it to Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier, expressing his sympathy for a province he judged both democratic and monarchical.
Who it is for
A main narrative followed by short pieces, which can be read separately; the villagers' speech is a colloquial English sprinkled with a few French words.
Prizes and reception
No known prize; the title story was adapted for the screen by Victor Fleming in 1922, and the collection received an annotated edition in 2015.
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