Renowned author Ron Currie transports readers back to his hometown in Waterville, immersed in the Franco-American culture in which he was raised. Over time, his recollections of this distinct Franco-American milieu have grown hazier, causing him to yearn for an opportunity to shine a light on this unique heritage. Born in an era when French language was ubiquitous in Waterville, he experienced daily the rhythm of mill workers and attended French Catholic churches filled to the brim. With these significant cultural aspects eroding, Currie felt driven to center a tale on this fading landscape of his past.
His latest literary offering, a novel entitled ‘The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne,’ is the end product of this desire. Released on the 25th of March, it follows the rollercoaster life of a beloved and formidable Franco-American woman captaining an unlawful drug trade. The resilient Babs Dionne materializes partly from Currie’s memories of his own grandmother, despite the latter having no connections to criminal undertakings.
The novel catapults readers back about ten years to meet the widely respected Babs Dionne. A figure of Franco-American pride, a doting grandmother, a widow, and a ruthless matriarch of an illicit drug trade, Dionne governs Waterville’s Little Canada with an iron fist, aided by a coterie of childhood acquaintances.
However, dwindling narcotics sales and an incursion by a higher-ranking crime lord send ripples through Dionne’s tightly controlled Little Canada. These disturbances are exacerbated when Dionne’s youngest daughter is found lifeless, eliciting Dionne’s infamous, explosive wrath.
An exploration of cultural and national identifiers, the novel paints a vivid picture of Dionne’s governing style of the Franco-American district under her rule. It casts a spotlight on the notable characteristic of language endurance, showcasing Dionne and her cohort’s undeterred commitment to continue their French conversations and zeal to hand down the legacy of their language to future generations.
Currie underscores the historical struggles faced by Franco-Americans in Maine, where they were subjected to pressures of assimilation and the prohibition of French in public schools. Despite the undeniable contribution of French-Canadian immigrants to the construction of Maine’s mill towns, including Waterville, Lewiston, and Biddeford, there is a glaring lack of modern novels highlighting Franco-American main characters, set in Maine’s Franco community.
Raised in Waterville, Currie’s early life staged the city’s metamorphosis from a thriving mill town to a struggling one. His father served as a firefighter and paramedic, and his mother balanced several jobs, providing an eyewitness account of this noteworthy shift.
Currie’s fascination with the written word sprouted during his youth, influenced by Maine’s master of horror and suspense, Stephen King, along with sci-fi legends like Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. His passion for crafting stories became an irresistible compulsion and an inescapable part of his persona, eventually leading him to share this passion by teaching creative writing at the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast MFA program.
‘The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne’ is the first installment of a proposed trilogy. Its narrative underscores the values of tightly-knit Franco-American communities, in which generations living in close proximity supported and nurtured one another, a dynamic that seems to be losing grip in the present times.
Unfortunately, younger generations today are more inclined to move away, deteriorating the local community’s cohesiveness and altering the place’s aura. This migration trend reflects a subtle shift in the social fabric, steadily eroding the ethics of community living that once held pride of place.
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