If the Rocks Could Talk

Book excerpt: The St Lawrence River, a constant presence during the author’s childhood, serves as a backdrop to her personal stories, along with inherited anecdotes from her older siblings. Rollande’s close relationship with her family depicted through vivid vignettes, are humorous and at times unexpected. Besides painting an evocative portrait of a time and place, she intersperses historical facts, unique customs, and eccentricities of the French Canadian culture. This book is an honest and affectionate depiction of life in rural Québec before the advent of modern conveniences in the first half of the 1900’s. While the rest of the country had embraced the modern world, the Gaspe peninsula was still isolated and lagging behind the times. This book will trigger memories in older readers who lament the passing of a simpler life. Younger audiences living in this high-tech world will be captivated to learn how different life was in Quebec only two generations ago.