Scholastic Canada: I Am Canada

A Note From Don Aker
author of Brothers in Arms: The Siege of Louisbourg

Taking part in the I Am Canada series, I wanted to write about combat in my own province of Nova Scotia, and the siege at Louisbourg was an obvious choice of subject for me. While researching the battle, I returned to the fortress to develop a sense of the physical world of my characters. As I walked the grounds of the restored site, I could easily imagine life within those massive stone walls. But it was while I stood upon those walls looking out at the surrounding hills and sea that I truly appreciated what the French soldiers and citizens at Louisbourg must have felt as they watched the British advance upon them in such overwhelming numbers. The fact that they were able to hold them back for nearly two months is surely a testament to their resolve and their courage.

While writing my previous novels, which were entirely fictional, I was free to invent whatever details I wished, so building a story around actual events was definitely a challenge for me. Despite that, I enjoyed weaving the narrative of my fictional soldier, Sébastien, into the historical facts of the siege. It was a little like assembling a jigsaw puzzle. I already had the framework — I just needed to make all the pieces fit.

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