September 2000 ISBN 921870-76-0   5 1/4 x 7 5/8 148 pp, $8.95 Young Adult Historical Novel Ages 9 to 16

This young adult historical novel, set in the early seventeenth century, tells the story of Madeleine Hebert and her brother Philippe who travel to New France to join their father after their mother dies in France. On arriving in Quebec city, they learn that their father, with the Regiment de Carignan, is at Michilimackinac, and possibly ill. When Philippe decides to go in search of their father by persuading Gabriel, a coureur de bois, to take him to Michilimackinac, Madeleine refuses to stay behind. With the help of her brother, she cuts off her long hair and disguises herself as a boy. And then begins a series of adventures as the threesome make the long canoe trip from Montreal up the Ottawa, over the height of land and down to Lake Huron and Michilimackinac. For a young girl it is an arduous trek, but Madeleine shows her high spirit and independence over the long days of paddling and the gruelling portages. At a welcoming Huron village, Madeleine discovers something of the Native way of life and that the land is far from being a terra incognita to the original inhabitants. In writing this historical novel, Metikosh has done a superb job of recreating history as it might have been experienced by a young woman.

"This exciting story of the realistic adventures of a once-proper young lady of France, now disguised as an apprentice coureur de bois, leaves the reader wanting to know what happens next to the feisty heroine." –Constance Horne

A separate Teacher’s Guide is available for $5.95. Order directly from Ronsdale Press

Anne Metikosh, who was born in Quebec, lived for a time in the Northwest Territories and has come to know the Canadian wilderness at first hand. She now makes her home in Calgary, Alberta, where she lives with her husband and their daughter, and where she makes time to pursue her love of horse riding. Terra Incognita is her first book. She is presently at work on another historical novel set in twentieth-century Russia, based on family history