Marianne Rabalais Sulser, the author of “Like Snow Before Sun,” is a Louisiana native transplanted to Colorado, but she still likes to laissez les bon temps rouler with her husband and three children. Her maternal ancestors were among the Acadians expelled from Nova Scotia in the 1750s, and she brings this overlooked history to life in her fiction. When she’s not writing, Sulser enjoys gardening and volunteering at Denver Botanic Gardens. Find out more about her at MarianneSulser.com.
SunLit: Tell us this book’s backstory – what’s it about and what inspired you to write it?
Marianne Sulser: “Like Snow Before Sun” is, at its heart, about making impossible choices. It’s set in 1750s Nova Scotia and is about Jeanne LeJeune, a young woman torn between two very different sides of her ancestry: Her father is a French Acadian merchant and her mother, a Mi’kmaq woman. When her father is arrested by the British, she takes drastic measures to win his freedom, becoming entangled with an English soldier. But she’s soon faced with an impossible choice: save her father or betray her mother’s people. The story is inspired by the lives of my own ancestors and set against the backdrop of the Acadian Diaspora, where thousands of French Canadians were forcibly expelled from Canada by the British. Many of those Acadians ended up in Louisiana and are now known as “Cajuns.”
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Each week, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Humanities & Center For The Book feature an excerpt from a Colorado book and an interview with the author. Explore the SunLit archives at coloradosun.com/sunlit.
SunLit: Place the excerpt you selected in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole and why did you select it?
Sulser: This is the opening scene of the novel where we meet the main character, Jeanne, who is witty, outspoken and doesn’t suffer fools. The scene finishes with a dialogue between her and an Englishman who, while educated, is clearly limited in his worldview. Jeanne gives him a set down but she does it so tactfully we are left wondering whether the Englishman even realizes he’s been insulted.
SunLit: What did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of the subject matter?
Sulser: I grew up hearing stories of the Acadian Diaspora (in Cajun French) my whole life, but it wasn’t until I started researching my genealogy that I realized my family and teachers had grossly simplified the whole story: the reason why the Acadians were displaced, everything they endured, and the role of the Indigenous Nations in sheltering the Acadians. It’s a fascinating story and I didn’t know half of it until I started the research that became this novel.
SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?
Sulser: The biggest challenge was trying to be as historically accurate as possible, while creating a plot that was fast-paced and interesting. In reality, the build-up to the Acadian Diaspora was decades in the making. The characters in “Like Snow Before Sun” experience it in a period of a few months.
SunLit: What do you want readers to take from this book?
“Like Snow Before Sun”
Where to find it:
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Sulser: We are living in a very unsettled political moment. Without trying to lecture anyone, I hope readers see and acknowledge the errors of our ancestors and actively seek to learn from their mistakes. I think the saying goes: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Let’s not do that, m’kay?
SunLit: As a descendant of Acadians who were expelled from Nova Scotia, what was it like for you personally to write about that traumatic chapter of history?
Sulser: Honestly, there were a lot of tears. It’s one thing to read about the trauma that the Acadians suffered. It’s quite another to stand in the shoes of your characters and feel what they felt. Physical suffering aside, the mental and emotional trauma they endured was enough to put most of us into therapy.
The Acadians spent decades avoiding the crossfire of war between the French and British, then were forcibly deported from their homes, often parted from their families forever. It’s heartbreaking to think about being violently separated from my family, not knowing whether they are alive or dead. All that being said, I kept tissues next to my keyboard.
SunLit: Tell us about your next project.
Sulser: I’m working on two things: a sequel to “Like Snow Before Sun”, which will tell what happens next in the characters’ stories. The second project is a contemporary dramedy-romance about a woman who is forced to help with her cantankerous, estranged grandmother’s community service and, in the process, very reluctantly finds love.
It’s set in Louisiana. I’m showing my age here but it’s sort of like if “Steel Magnolias” and “Designing Women” had a baby, and that baby was raised by Lady Violet Crawley from “Downton Abbey.”
A few more quick items
Currently on your nightstand for recreational reading: “Theo of Golden” by Allen Levi, another debut novelist on the wrong side of 40
First book you remember really making an impression on you as a kid: “The Secret Garden” by Francis Hodgson Burnett. I still have the same paperback copy I read when I was eight.
Best writing advice you’ve ever received: Don’t wait until you think you’re ready. Just start.
Favorite fictional literary character: Elizabeth Bennett from “Pride and Prejudice”, hands down
Literary guilty pleasure (title or genre): Romantasy. It’s like eating fried chicken: You really shouldn’t but you can’t help it.
Digital, print or audio – favorite medium to consume literature: Digital. Don’t judge. When I finish a book, I might be sitting in the carpool line or waiting in the doctor’s office. I just download the next book and don’t miss a beat.
One book you’ve read multiple times: The “Outlander” Series by Diana Gabaldon. Diana’s writing is a real inspiration to me.
Other than writing utensils, one thing you must have within reach when you write: Coffee: hot, strong, and black
Best antidote for writer’s block: Research. It always gives me ideas.
Most valuable beta reader: My husbandPASTE TEXT HERE