Rheta Press presents--

AND!
Wednesday's Child

A Franco-American memoir
by Rhea Côté Robbins

This is the story of a neighborhood (...much grittier than the one in Empire Falls...).
This is the story of a woman who lived the life of the mill town and its inhabitants.
This is the true story of that town and its people told from her experiences of them.

A creative nonfiction memoir about
growing up and living Franco-American.
The story of a culture in Maine and beyond.
Used as a textbook in many college classrooms for:
cultural, women's, sociology, English, French,
writing and other studies.

•Author discusses her writing process and inspiriation
Quicktime movie

•A reading from the last chapter of the book on WERU, 102.9FM/89.9FM,
Writer's Forum, Maine Writers Reading On-Air,
Archived @ WERU online, Listen Now! (20:00 into program, bottom of page, April 2005)

Now in its 5th printing!

Wednesday's Child
is included in the
Who's Who of American Women, 2000-present
Terry Plunkett Maine Writers Collection, University of Maine at Augusta
Maine Women Writers Collection, Abplanalp Library, Westbrook College
Yale Collection of American Literature, Yale University
New York Public Library
Maine Arts Commission Directory

•Readings & Presentations/Exhibitions

•Reviews, Critiques, writings, etc.

•Read an excerpt from Wednesday's Child

•Press Release

How to order your copy of
Wednesday's Child
Textbook orders, please contact Rheta Press directly!

Ask for it at your local bookstore
or order by U.S. mail/or email:
Rheta Press
641 South Main Street
Brewer, Maine 04412-2516
207-989-7059
$12.99 plus $3 shipping and handling
Maine Residents please pay 5% state tax
To purchase by
by credit card, Paypal, visit this link
http://www.rhetapress.com/SalesbyRhetapress.html

or from

For Canadian customers to order from Amazon.ca click here:
For Canadian customers to order from Amazon.ca click here:
Wednesday's Child

For UK customers to order from Amazon.uk click here:
For UK customers to order from Amazon.uk click here: Wednesday's Child

Rheta Press is a member vendor of
Maine Made

Canuck and Other Stories
Translations
*see review below

Canuck and Other Stories

Rhea Côté Robbins, Editor

Canuck, by Camille Lessard Bissonnette, (1883-1970),
translated by Sue Huseman and Sylvie Charron,
is a book which reflects the French Canadian immigration
experience from a young woman's point of view.
The protagonist, Vic, is a very modern young
woman who sets out to accomplish
many things in her new country, the U.S.

La Jeune Franco-Américaine, The Young Franco-American
by Alberte Gastonguay, (1906-1978),
translated by Madeleine C. Paré Roy,
is a study of the life of a young woman
who is seeking her way in the world.
She meets many suitors and comes to the
conclusion of a satisfactory ending
in the ways of traditional culture.

Françaises d'Amérique, Frenchwomen of North America
by Corinne Rocheleau Rouleau, (1881-1963),
translated by Jeannine Bacon Roy,
is a one act play which features the heroines
who helped settle New France.
This play proves their presence
on the North American continent
and is as fresh today as the day it was first presented.
To purchase by
by credit card, Paypal, visit this link
http://www.rhetapress.com/SalesbyRhetapress.html

Books available locally at:

BookMarc's, 78 Harlow St., Bangor, ME

To Order, Available online:

Available from Amazon.com

Available from Borders.com

Available from Target.com

Avalilable from Alibris.com

Available from AbeBooks.com

BookSurge Publishing
(September 28, 2006), Rheta Press
Paperback: 290 pages
Language: English
ISBN: 0966853628
List Price: $18.99

Camille Lessard-Bissonnette (1883-1970), the author of Canuck, emigrated from Quebec to Lewiston with her family in 1904 at the age of twenty. Although she left that city a few years later and subsequently resided in various parts of Canada and the United States--she died at Long Beach, California--she never forgot her experiences working in a textile mill in Lewiston for four years before finding employment as a feature writer for Le Messager, the local French-language newspaper. Her novel, which appeared in 1936, is set in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1900, but she drew heavily upon her experiences in Lewiston. A...well structured story that grips the reader. Canuck is probably the most important novel in French, now translated, by a Franco-American writer.

A more specialized study of Franco-American novels of the 1930s found they were not devoid of interest, particularly as they shed light on contemporary attitudes and values. Alberte Gastonguay-Sasseville (1906-1978), the daughter of a prosperous insurance agent in Lewiston, Maine, published La Jeune Franco-Américaine in 1933. The novel tells of a young woman's struggle to remain faithful to her Catholic and Franco-American upbringing despite the lures of modern life (e.g., the blandishments of a divorced man, the amorous advances of her employer, the bad example of a girlfriend who leads a life of debauchery).

Comments from:
"The French-Canadian Heritage in New England" by Gerard J. Brault

Also:
"Frenchwomen of North America," by Corinne Rocheleau Rouleau, a one-act play commissioned in 1915....In the preface of "French Women of North America," translated by Jeannine Bacon Roy, Corinne Rocheleau in 1915 writes, "We have often discussed the major feats and accomplishments of the French colonists, but we have left their "better halves" in semi-darkness. I believe it is time to introduce these Frenchwomen pioneers. É The centuries have practically erased all traces of their footsteps on American soil."
more on Corinne:
http://www.catholicauthors.com/roleau.html

-----
Franco-American Women's Literary Tradition: A Central Piece in the Region's Literary Mosaic

Written and Presented by Rhea Côté Robbins
Visit this site

*Review of the anthology:
Anthology of French stories resurrects three women writers and their Franco-American heritage

Monday, May 14, 2007 - Bangor Daily News
By Melissa MacCrae, BDN Staff
Bangor Daily News
at this link:
http://bangordailynews.com/news/t/lifestyle.aspx?articleid=149784&zoneid=14

Canuck et d'Autres Histoires, French Language Edition
Edited by Rhea Côté Robbins
Transcribed by Bridget T. Robbins Grant

To purchase a CD of the book, or download a .pdf file after purchase
Visit this site
http://www.rhetapress.com/SalesbyRhetapress.html

•Reviews, Critiques, writings, etc.

Rhea J. Côté (Cote) Robbins is Director of the

Franco-American Women's Institute