NOW A PENGUIN MODERN CLASSIC: Twining revenge tragedy with gothic romance, John Richardson’s Wacousta is a story of betrayal, false identity, and wasted love during one of the most violent episodes in the history of the Canadian frontier.
On the northwest frontier in 1763, a mysterious man named Wacousta lies at the heart of a violent attack on the British garrison Fort Detroit. Consumed by a thirst for vengeance that borders on madness, this monstrous figure assists Pontiac’s Indian alliance to satisfy a deeply personal vendetta–one whose roots stretch back across decades and continents. Thrilling and suspenseful, Wacousta creates a world of deception and terror in which motive is ambiguous and the boundary between order and anarchy unclear.
About Wacousta
Set in the 1760s at the time of Pontiac’s Indian alliance against the British, Wacousta combines elements of revenge tragedy and gothic romance in reconstructing a violent episode in Canadian frontier history. In Major John Richardson’s vivid depiction, Pontiac’s campaign against Fort Detroit is masterminded by the mysterious Wacousta, a Byronic anti-hero whose thirst for vengeance against the fortress commander borders on madness. Turning upon binary oppositions – garrison against wilderness, restraint against passion, mercy against justice – this suspenseful novel creates a world of deception and terror in which motive is ambiguous and the boundary between order and anarchy unclear.
Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.
John Richardson was born in 1924. He studied art at the Slade School but soon gave up painting for art criticism. In 1949 he moved to Provence, where he helped the collector Douglas Cooper transform the Château de Castille near… More about John Richardson
About John Richardson
John Richardson was born in 1924. He studied art at the Slade School but soon gave up painting for art criticism. In 1949 he moved to Provence, where he helped the collector Douglas Cooper transform the Château de Castille near… More about John Richardson
