She picks up the book and presses it to her chest, wishing he had stayed to talk. It’s a beautifully written story—she wept at every page—and she would have liked to have told him that. There are so many things she would like to tell him.
She opens the book to the dedication page, where James has handwritten a note for her.
V,
“People who love as you do, with that plenitude and fire, always forget what others experience.”
Thank you for loving me that way, and teaching me to love (you) that way. I’ll always burn brighter for it.
J. G. Phénix.
She always loved how he called her V. He’s the only one who ever did. To everyone else, she is Véro. She immediately recognizes the Marie-Claire Blais quote from one of her favorite books, Le Loup. She introduced James to Blais’s writing in their early days together, and he came to love her books as much as Véronique did.
They’re from different worlds, James and Véronique. When they were together, they had opposing ideologies and clashing political views. But she’s older now and mature enough to understand that real love does not compromise itself for politics. Love doesn’t judge or discriminate against conflicting opinions or ambitions; it does not divide or bully. Love is far more resilient than the average human being, forever indomitable in the face of frail egos and heavy chips on shoulders and stubborn, self-righteous pride. Love has nothing to prove; only humans do. This is what she would like to say to James: the love they had for each other did not fail. They are the ones who failed, at a time in their lives when they were still both inflexible and inept. Which makes her wonder if maybe it’s not too late for them.
She reaches for her phone and dials his number. He answers on the first ring, and the sound of his voice makes her a little light-headed.
“J. G. Phénix?” she says.
“This is he.” Knowing it’s her, playing along.
“Thank you for the book.”
“I know you own a bookstore,” he says. “But just in case you hadn’t read it . . .”
“I liked your inscription.”
“I’m glad. I probably overthought it—”
“Blais has a new book,” she says. “Have you read Dans la Foudre et la Lumière?”
“Obviously.”
“And?”
“I thought it was better than Soifs.”
“Oh,” she says. “I didn’t like it as much.”
“I figured.”
They never could agree on Soifs. “If ever you want to get together and discuss the new one—”
“I’m free now,” he says.
She laughs.
“Are you still at your store?” he asks her.
“I am,” she says, smiling. Going along with the moment.
She doesn’t want to forget what happened between them any more than she wants the things she did—both misguided and worthwhile—to be forgotten. But maybe love is expansive enough to remember everything and still transcend it all.
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, thank you to my brilliant editor, Jennifer Barth. I am so grateful for your support and guidance. You are the one who so gently inquired if there might be a sequel to Elodie’s story, and I am forever thankful that you encouraged me on that path. You gave me permission to finish the story that was twenty-plus years in the making.
A humongous thank-you to my greatest champion and cheerleader, my longtime agent and friend, Bev Slopen. Thank you for never, ever giving up. Ever. We’ve come a long way since that first meeting twenty-three years ago. Who knew where that little novel called The Seed Man would take us?
Another huge debt of gratitude to Billy Mernit, the guy who makes everything I write much, much better. You are an extraordinary reader, editor, and mentor, with unmatched insight and vision. Thank you.
I feel truly blessed to have so many incredible people on my team. Birthing a book takes a village! To that end, I owe a huge thank-you to the most amazing marketing team ever: Irina Pintea, Cory Beatty and Katie Vincent (or as they’re known worldwide, Cory & Katie), Leo Macdonald, and Sandra Leef. The past couple of years have been a wild ride. I can’t wait to see what lies ahead.
The idea for this story was inspired by my own life experience growing up half-English and half-French in 1990s Montreal, and then working as a journalist at the time of the 1995 referendum. But much of the insight I gained into the emotional story of the Duplessis orphans came from Pauline Gill’s book, Les Enfants de Duplessis (Quebec Loisirs Inc., 1991), the shocking and heartbreaking true story of Alice Quinton. I am deeply grateful to Alice Quinton for sharing her story with Pauline Gill, and for her candor, honesty, courage, and resilience.
I would also like to acknowledge Francis Simard and his book Talking It Out: The October Crisis from Inside (Guernica Editions, 1987). Simard’s frank and brutally honest account of his involvement in the events of October 1970 were invaluable to my research and understanding of those events, beyond just the facts. Although this story was inspired by real events, my depiction of Léo’s role in the October Crisis is purely fictional and the product of my imagination.
To my best friend and toughest editor, Miguel, I’m copying and pasting here for the sixth time: thank you for accompanying me to every reading and every festival and on every tour, for managing all my contracts, for saving all my publicity in a beautiful scrapbook, for picking up the kids and driving them all over the city and basically taking care of my entire life, so I can continue to be The Writer. I love you. Jessie and Luke, you bring all the joy.
Finally, thank you to my mom, Peggy, aka the real Maggie. It’s been a bittersweet ride without you, but I know for certain that you’re up there orchestrating every magical thing that has happened with and because of these books.
About the Author
JOANNA GOODMAN is the author of the bestselling novels The Home for Unwanted Girls and The Finishing School. Originally from Montreal, she now lives in Toronto with her husband and two children.
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Also by Joanna Goodman
The Home for Unwanted Girls
The Finishing School
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Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE FORGOTTEN DAUGHTER. Copyright © 2020 by Joanna Goodman. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Cover design by Sarah Brody
Cover photograph © Inna Mosina/Trevillion Images
FIRST EDITION
Digital Edition OCTOBER 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-299832-3
Version 08222020
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-299831-6
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-299830-9 (library edition)
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The Forgotten Daughter Page 38