Guelph-Humber professor discusses her new historical fiction novel
[Spoilers]
This Godforsaken Place is a novel written by Cinda Gault, a current professor at the University of Guelph-Humber that has also taught at the University of Guelph campus. This is Gault’s first historical fiction novel, and it explores the journey of Abigail Peacock, a young woman who has travelled from England with her father to build a new life in the Canadian wilderness. Abigail’s story takes place in 1885, right in the middle of the Riel Rebellion, and is told through her own perspective. The story kicks off after she decides to abandon the life that her father built for her to go on a dangerous journey that was offered to her by a wanted criminal. On her journey she meets historic figures Gabriel Dumont and Annie Oakley, as well as the fictional Shea Wyatt.
Things change when Abigail learns to shoot a gun. She falls in love with the power that is given to her by the ability to shoot, and relentlessly teaches herself to shoot at any opportunity she gets.
Gault explained that not only were guns an important aspect to include in the story to stay true to the western genre, they also played as a metaphor.
“It was metaphoric for [Abigail] because it was metaphoric for taking action. So instead of being the victim and whining about things, she was going to take things into her own hands, literally, and figure out how to triumph in that.”
Abigail eventually bonds with a historic female sharpshooter, Annie Oakley, who provides her with lessons.
“The gun was central to both of them. […] Abigail goes down and meets this woman who is defined by what she can do with a gun. And Annie Oakley felt—all the stuff that she says about women and feminism—those were all her thoughts […] she thought every woman should know how to shoot a gun to protect herself, and she thought a woman needed a gun more than she needed a vote.”
Abigail’s journey is fierce—after being kept in her home most of her life, she confronts the dangers of the New World with confidence and stamina. She explores the unfortunate limitations that were faced by women of her time, which forces her to dress like a man for survival. She can shoot, she can ride, and she stays true to herself throughout the journey.
The novel, however, was not always written through purely Abigail’s perspective. Gault explained that she had first written the novel through four different perspectives: Abigail Peacock, Annie Oakley, Gabriel Dumont, and Shea Wyatt.
“You realize […] how big an impact you have on that kind of authorial decision-making […]. In class we talk about ‘What’s the perspective?’ Well, you really experience it a different way as a writer because the story is the story depending on who’s eyes it’s going through, even if the events are all the same,” said Gault.
When asked about the process of writing historical fiction, Gault explained there’s plenty of excitement to be had. She also mentioned her experience with incorporating a fictional protagonist into a story about historical events.
“In Godforsaken Place, there were two real characters and two fictional characters. So having them interact with each other, I had to stay true to what they actually did and when they did it. And it was a big day when I realized that Gabriel Dumont did work at that Wild West Show at the same time as Annie Oakley, so they must have known each other. That was so exciting!”
A major part of Gault’s research included visiting Batoche, the site of the historic Battle of Batoche, a key component to the Northwest Rebellion. The Battle of Batoche marked the defeat of Louis Riel.
“[…] It just makes it more real because I need to know what it smells like and what it tastes like, because those are the details you’re looking for as a writer. So I needed to know the historical details that I get from books and archives and that sort of thing, but then I need some kind of a sensual experience as well, as that […] can be recorded. What kind of a day was it? What did the landscape look like?”
In reviews of the novel, Abigail’s character has often been referred to as a “strong woman” or a strong female character. Gault shared her thoughts on the use of the term “strong woman.”
“‘Strong woman’ almost sounds like a strait jacket to me,” stated Gault. “Well, can’t women be something other than strong? And the implicit in it is the expectation that the average woman would be weak. And so, look at this woman, she’s a strong woman, as though that’s something unusual. So I don’t like the term strong woman. Although, I love strong people, and all of those people [in This Godforsaken Place] were heroes, and they were all strong. And I liked it that all of them were strong in their clarity about what they understood about each other—they knew what their values were, and they picked good values, and they were willing to live their lives acting out what their values were.”
“So I didn’t do it to show her as a strong woman; she was someone I admired. I showed Dumont to be a strong man, [and] Annie Oakley was strong, I admired her too. […] They walked their talk, and I think that’s more important—for people to walk their talk—than for a woman to somehow demonstrate her strength because the world doesn’t expect her to have it. I don’t see what’s to be gained by that.”