The Forgotten Daughter by Joanna Goodman
Lennoxville Library
Set primarily in Montreal from the 1970s to the 1990s, The Forgotten Daughter by Joanna Goodman follows three main characters: Véronique, daughter of a (fictional) member of the FLQ cell that kidnapped and murdered Pierre Laporte; James, a federalist French-canadian journalist; and James’ older sister, Élodie, who grew up as one of Duplessis’ orphans. While The Forgotten Daughter is technically a sequel to The Home for Unwanted Girls, as it continues Élodie’s story, it focuses primarily on Véronique and James and can be read as a standalone book.
Part historical fiction, part story of star-crossed lovers, Goodman’s novel draws the reader in immediately as we are introduced to Véronique just as her father is welcomed home after spending her entire childhood in jail for his role in Laporte’s murder. Fastforward through her adolescence, we meet Véronique again in 1992, out on her own, but drifting, when she meets James, a bilingual French-canadian journalist working for a national news agency. From the beginning, Véronique and James are at odds with their beliefs about the past and the future of Quebec and its people. In Véronique’s eyes, even James’ ability to speak English is a betrayal to les Québécois.
Raised in a home with fervent political beliefs, where there were no limits when it came to what was acceptable in order further one’s cause, Véronique finds herself drawn into political action in support of Quebec’s separation from Canada. At the same time, she and James are drawn to each other, admiring the other’s passion and loyalty, but will this passion be enough to keep them together through the increasingly tumultuous political times? Where will they draw the line when it comes to compromising political beliefs in order to stay together?
The other main narrative of the novel focuses on Élodie as this story picks up from where The Home for Unwanted Girls left off. Having been given up for adoption when her mother was a teenager, Élodie was raised in an orphanage in the Eastern Townships. The Quebec government, under Premier Duplessis, and with support from the Catholic Church-run institutions, converted many orphanages into psychiatric hospitals with the aim of reducing their economic burden on society. As a result, thousands of children were wrongly certified as mentally deficient or unstable and suffered gravely at the hands of these institutions. In the 1990s, when we meet Élodie again, she becomes part of the group of Duplessis Orphans who form a coalition to pursue lawsuits against the Quebec government as they seek out restitution and formal admissions of wrongdoing.
As the story progresses, Véronique and Élodie each wrestle with their anger at the injustices they have suffered, and each will have to decide if they will let anger dictate their futures and relationships or if they can find a way to move past it. Additionally, as Véronique strives to find her place in the world, Goodman explores the question of value inheritance: is it possible to choose new values that are different from those that were passed onto us from our parents?
Joanna Goodman grew up in Montreal and was interning as a journalist during the 1995 referendum. Being at the riot in Montreal on the night of the referendum, experiencing the charged emotions firsthand from the perspective as someone who’s family straddled both sides of the debate, planted within her the desire to write about these tumultuous times. Her passion for the past is evident as she adeptly weaves this fictional story around factual events. Her thorough research brings a richness to the major historical moments depicted, all while keeping it from feeling like a dull history lesson (which is not always the case with historical fiction!).
My own memories of the divisive time leading up to the 1995 referendum have stayed with me over the 26 years since, despite having been only 12 at the time, and while I did not live through it, the reverberations of the sentiments that led up to the October Crisis of 1970 still crop up in facets of life in Quebec today. Reading Goodman’s novel from this personal context made it even more engaging. The process of seeing our lived history as part of a fictional narrative lent itself to ongoing and thought-provoking reflection on the experiences and perspectives of “the other side”.
Lastly, as a bonus for the avid podcast listeners out there, I would recommend CBC’S podcast “Recall: How to start a revolution” to complement your reading of The Forgotten Daughter, as it explores the complex events leading up to the October Crisis.
The Forgotten Daughter is available to borrow from the Lennoxville Library.