Please join us for a Q&A with Allegra Goodman, author of Isola, Intuition, and several other works of fiction.
Please join me in welcoming Allegra Goodman to our BookBrowse Community Forum online discussion. Allegra is the author of several works of literary fiction, and, most recently, the outstanding historical fiction novel, Isola.
Please use this space to ask Allegra questions about her work. As a reminder, to reply to an existing comment click the grey Reply on the right side under the comment. To ask a new question, click the blue Reply button a little lower down.
Allegra, thanks for being here! Please tell our group a little about yourself.
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Hi everybody! I am so happy to be here! I am a novelist and I live in Cambridge, MA. Fun fact–I grew up in Honolulu and I’ve always been obsessed with islands.
My most recent novel is Isola which came out in February. This novel is based on the true story of Marguerite de la Rocque de Roberval who sailed to the New World in 1542 and was marooned on an island in the Gulf of St Lawrence.
I’d love to answer any questions you might have about my book or about writing in general.
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Hi Allegra! Thanks for being here.
I’d like to start by talking about Isola. In looking at your novels it seems that this one is your first foray into historical fiction, is that correct? If so, what led you in that direction? How did you first learn about Marguerite, and what encouraged you to make her the subject of one of your novels?
Hello Allegra! Your writing created intense moods not only in the character descriptions and actions but also in the settings. Goodness, I felt lonely, miserable and cold many times while reading *Isola". * How did you craft “mood”?
Yes, this is my first historical novel. I first learned about Marguerite while traveling with my family to Canada over twenty years ago. I’d brought along some children’s books on Canadian history. In a book about the explorer Jacques Cartier, the author mentioned Marguerite as a young kinswoman of the voyage commander Roberval. The author said something like–this young woman annoyed the commander so he marooned her on an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Immediately, I wanted to learn more about her–and I wanted to write about her. I never forgot Marguerite and after many years and a lot of research, I finally began writing my version of her story.
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Ha, great question! I think mood comes from voice and character. This book is Marguerite’s account and so the moods are hers. As she tells the story, the reader is right there with her, feeling what she feels–loneliness, cold, misery, grief–and also discovery, mastery, and hard-won triumph.
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Wow, it’s amazing that she stuck with you all that time!
How did you go about researching her and the time period in which she lived? Giving how long ago it was, you must have really had to do some digging.
Also, the real-life accounts of Marguerite’s ordeal differ. At what point did you decide to include both versions?
I did a lot of reading about Marguerite and her world. I also did a lot of looking at paintings of women from the period, musical instruments, maps, and objects from her time. I listened to lute music. I researched the way polar bears hunt–and attack. I thought about books she might have read. I read a biography for the Queen of Navarre. Early on I studied the two contemporary accounts of Marguerite’s ordeal. Because they conflict, I knew I had to choose which details to use. As a story teller I was particularly interested in the way that narratives serve their authors–not necessarily their subjects. I play with that in my book.
At the end of the novel Marguerite leaves with Claire and her mother Jacqueline accompanied by two Royal guards and a purse of gold. They are moving to Nontron to start a school for women. I did care for their safety knowing that Roberval wanted some of her money, again. How safe was the travelling in the mid-1500 in France?
I thought the way you resolved the two conflicting accounts was very clever.
Did you uncover anything that shocked you during your research?
Also, did you travel to Isola’s island at any point in your research/writing process, and if so, what that was like?
I’m also curious as to why it became the time for you to write a historical fiction novel. It sounds like Marguerite’s story had been rolling around in your head for a while - what brought it to the fore? It’s so different from your other books - did you just decide it was time to mix is up?
My sense is that traveling was pretty iffy, especially if the weather was bad. The roads were poor, and I think women in particular would have been targets for robbers. That said, when the three leave at the end of the book, they travel with guards. They are carrying money with them, and so they take precautions. Thanks for your question!
I think that writing Sam gave me that final push I needed to write Marguerite’s story. Sam is a climber, a striver, and a survivor. She is also a young woman coming of age. While writing about Sam the 21st century girl, I began to think about the challenges of coming of age in the 16th century. In some ways it’s harder for Marguerite. She has no meaningful legal protection. In other ways, it’s easier because she is an aristocrat.
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Isola is definitely a 5 star novel of historical fiction! I’ve recommended it to many friends.
I was wondering how you decided on the title. Isn’t Isola Italian? Why not L’île isolée or maybe Isolée, since the main characters speak French?
BTW, I’m adding L’île mystérieuse by Jules Verne to my reading list after reading your excellent novel.
Thank you so much for reading and recommending “Isola!” Great question about the title. I used the Italian word for Island because the map Cartier is using is Italian. It’s the map reproduced in the first pages of the book. On that map all the islands are labeled Isola. I was drawn to the word because it looked to me like I-Sola, I alone and Marguerite’s isolation lies at the heart of the book. At one point she says that she herself became an island, living as she did alone. Her solitude breaks her and also is the making of her. When she returns to France she is quite a different person. I really wanted to write about isolation is like for a young person who has been privileged and surrounded by servants. What might you discover? What might you say to yourself? What might you come to believe?
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What was your biggest challenge when writing Isola? Did you run into any roadblocks, or did you have to make drastic changes to your initial outline as you were writing?