By Kaylie Seed
Content warning: rape, domestic violence
Danielle Daniel’s debut novel, Daughters of the Deer, is a remarkable story about colonization, intergenerational trauma, and family bonds, especially the mother-daughter relationship. Inspired by Daniel’s familial link to a young girl murdered by French settlers, Daughters of the Deer is a novel filled with heartbreak and love as it follows a mother and daughter throughout their lives from their own perspectives.
I enjoyed the characters and the character development throughout Daughters of the Deer. While the focus was mainly on mother Marie and daughter Jeanne, the secondary characters all played an important role in this story. Marie is an Algonquin woman who ends up forced to marry a French settler; she is also a gifted healer. Jeanne is a Two-Spirited young woman in love with a girl named Josephine. While Marie is understanding of her daughter, Jeanne must hide who she is from those around her, including her family. Daniel created such complex characters and they all had a unique voice which helped elevate Daughters of the Deer.
Daughters of the Deer focuses on so many different themes, and while this may seem overwhelming to some, Daniel has written this novel in such a way that it would not make sense to leave any of them out. From violence against Indigenous women to the love between a mother and her child to Two-Spirited individuals and colonization, Daughters of the Deer has managed to reflect upon many important topics still relevant today while bringing forth a history so few know about.
Daniel has taken a time period not often seen in historical fiction and has written about many issues that have caused a ripple effect throughout history for Indigenous Peoples. The reader will note that while history during this period focused heavily on settlers, Daniel has shifted that narration to focus on the Algonquin People in Daughters of the Deer, especially the women who were forced into marriages with the settler men. Daniel takes readers to the origin of violence against Indigenous women and where the First Nations were forced to give up their land, culture, and traditions. Pieces of history long lost due to whitewashing, Daughters of the Deer helps to reclaim that history and shifts the focus to Indigenous Peoples and their voices. This novel is important, heartbreaking, and one that is bound to stay with me for a long time. I applaud Daniel on such a strong debut, and I encourage others to read this remarkable piece of historical fiction.
Thank you, Penguin Random House Canada, for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.