Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem “Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie,” tells the fictional story of a seventeen-year-old girl who searches for Gabriel, her lost love, amid the 1755 expulsion of the Acadians from maritime Canada.

Now, acclaimed novelist Cathie Pelletier, descended from Acadians herself, adapts the story with a more modern sensibility and retells it in novel form for readers of all ages. This prose retelling makes the story not just accessible, but teachable for today’s students. And the triumphant ending shows us a determined young women who manages to rise above even the worst of human upheavals.

At a time when immigration and migration are at the forefront of news cycles, the historic displacement of the Acadians deserves a deeper look.