Lifelong Learning Institute at Waubonsee Community College

“Isola” is historical fiction based on the true survival story of Marguerite de la Rocque, a 16th century French noblewoman who, orphaned at the age of three, is subject to the management of a guardian. A distant cousin, Roberval, is granted guardianship of Marguerite, her lands and her fortune. Roberval is a “speculator” who gradually squanders her estate on his various naval adventures. Commissioned in 1542 by the King of France to establish colonies in New France (Canada), Roberval brings Marguerite along. When they fall out over her infatuation with his young male secretary, he cruelly abandons Marguerite, her lover, and her nurse on a barren island in the Gulf of St Lawrence.

Required Reading.  Isola:  A Novel by Allegra Goodman