Acadia

""If piecing together a story out of history is like puzzling out the doings of nocturnal creatures by the tracks left to the morning, the civil war that founded Acadia is a few smudgy pawprints in melted snow,"" writes Silver in the author's note following his tale of Acadia, the fur-trading colony in 17th-century Nova Scotia. Drawing from vague shadows of history, Silver (The Red River Trilogy) recreates an era of deadly violence and lusty romance as Charles de La Tour and his bride Fran oise squabble with Charles and Jeanne d'Aulnay over the governorship of Acadia. France's attempt to solve the probelm by drawing a line down Baye Fran oise (now the Bay of Fundy) only made the battle more bitter. This is a fine novel filled with historical fact and detail but it is also proof that Silver is a master storyteller as well. (May)