The Barkskins

 Annie Proulx, the author of The Shipping News and the short story Brokeback Mountain also wrote The Barkskins. This is an epic novel covering time from the 1690's to the 1990's. Two French men, Rene' Sel and Charles Duquet travel from France to be indentured servants in Massachusetts. Charles Duquet flees from the unfair treatment he gets in Massachusetts and temporarily becomes a fur trapper. Rene' Sel stays for the three years and ends up marrying his employer's wife, Marie. Marie is a Mi'kmaw native and a healer. Her knowledge of native plants is well renowned. The descendants of both Rene' and Charles are involved in forestry. The descriptions of the mighty white pine forests are lovely. The novel is also about the ecological consequences of clear cutting the forests. I learned very much about the timber business and how it changed over the decades. The descendants of Rene' and Charles had to move on from the Massachusetts area once the one pines were gone. They went on to New Brunswick, Ohio, and Michigan. Eventually they went to New Zealand for the kauri trees and to the Amazon for mahogany. Rene's descendants have more respect for the forest due to their native heritage. Charles descendants made more money on the forest because they were white. I loved reading this very long book. The tale has been made into a television series on the National Geographic channel.