Minique

A Novel

By: Anna Maxymiw

Narrated by: Amelia Sargisson

A fierce outsider narrative about the so-called “witch in the woods,” a feminist fable, a haunting survival story, and a turbulent romance.

Minique is loosely based on the lives of real 17th-century figures—including Anne Lamarque, a Montréal woman who was accused of witchcraft in 1682.

The buzzing in her head gets louder, like there are more bees, and the itching on the top of her mouth is everywhere now, all across her tongue and teeth and the inside of her cheeks, hot, hot, hot. She takes a breath and she sees these men in the forest, sees their hands covered in blood as they skin beavers, ripping the fur from the shiny meat.

Montréal, 1680s: Minique has a secret she can’t ever tell. She knows there are horrific consequences for girls and women who do not conform. She saw it with her own eyes when Anne, the aubergiste, was viciously marched through town and charged with crimes she didn’t commit. Besides, Minique has never had family members to tell. She remembers little of her mother, a fille du roi, who arrived in Montréal on a ship; she rarely sees her father, a coureur des bois who is often away; and she barely speaks with her Tante Marie, a stern, hard woman.

Years later, after a string of tragedies, Minique has abandoned the hostility of the town and its people. She has built a home for herself in the woods, outside the boundary of Montréal. But her solitary existence is interrupted when she learns that Antoine de Cadillac, an ambitious Frenchman with a violent past, is after a monopoly of the fur trade in New France. Though initially repulsed by his greed, Minique is powerfully drawn to him. Soon, their paths start to cross in unpredictable ways as Cadillac’s determination to learn more about the “witch in the wood” intensifies. They forge a reckless, passionate connection with an ever-shifting dynamic that Minique welcomes until she realizes that everything—down to the core of who she is and the secret she carries—is at stake.

By turns fierce, gripping, poignant, and menacing, Minique is historical fiction with a contemporary twist. Here is a one-of-a-kind story about a woman’s reckoning with her own power and what she will do to protect it.

©2022 Anna Maxymiw (P)2022 Penguin Random House Canada

Critic reviews

“I was completely bewitched by Minique—her struggles, her magic, her fierce curiosity and strength. This beautifully crafted novel is a timeless, bold wonder, the kind of tale that begs to be read by firelight, late into the night.” —Ami McKay, author of Half Spent Was the Night

“’Minique’ is an act of feminist reclamation and a feat of imagination.” —Toronto Star

“Minique [is] a spellbinding tale of women, witchcraft, colonialism, and power set in 17th-century Quebec . . . [Maxymiw’s] prose is stunning . . . the story weaves in subtly anachronistic expressions and comparisons to modern life. It’s this combination that helps the novel stand out compared to traditional historical novelists . . .” —Winnipeg Free Press