The Landscape She Survived In

The Gulf of St.

Lawrence is not a gentle environment in any season, and in the winter months it is genuinely brutal.

The islands scattered through the gulf and along its northern coast — candidates for the island where Marguerite was left — share certain ecological and climatic characteristics that help clarify what she faced.

Winters in this region are characterized by temperatures that regularly drop well below zero Fahrenheit, sea ice that can surround islands for months, and storms that combine wind, snow, and cold in combinations that are immediately dangerous to improperly sheltered humans.

The warmth that the summer months provide is brief — June through September at the most, with the shoulder months of May and October having their own hazards.