Little Fortress
Little Fortress is based on the true story of the Caetanis, a family of Italian nobility driven out of their home by the rise of fascism, who chose exile in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. In her long-awaited second novel, Laisha Rosnau brings to life Ofelia, her daughter, Sveva Caetani, and their personal secretary, Miss Juul.
Moving from a lighthouse in the North Atlantic, to teeming Cairo on the cusp of war, from Roman palaces to isolation in a rugged small Canadian town, the voice of the novel is Miss Juul, a diminutive Danish woman with a storied past who is employed by the Caetanis. The family seeks peace in Canada and Miss Juul is essential to them as their employee and confidant. They live between Europe, changing in ways they can't conceive, and Canada, a world where they don't quite belong. When Ofelia takes to her bed after the death of the duke, Miss Juul cares for her and Sveva, and brings her own secrets into twenty-five years of seclusion with them.
Little Fortress is a story of a changing world, with the death of its age-old nobility, and the lives and shifting roles of women in times of upheaval. It is a sweeping and intricate story of friendship, class, trust, betrayal and, ultimately, love.
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ADVANCE PRAISE
Little Fortressis a sublime novel that asks what happens when you rebel against the narrow strictures of your life. When Miss Inge-Marie Juul rides away from her family’s farm, resolved to find her own way,her story spirals through time, through two world wars, ranging from lonely Danish lighthouses to Cairo, from Italian villas to Okanagan orchards. This is a haunted, sweeping story, both mournful and stitched with a lilt of hope. – Eden Robinson
There’s something wonderfully subversive about Laisha Rosnau’s new novel, Little Fortress. Her women, driven by passion and pain, live on their own terms in a world that would reduce them to eccentric curiosities when they are so much more. Rosnau does a brilliant job of resurrecting and reimagining this piece of Canadian history. – Annabel Lyon
Little Fortress lives and breathes. Based on real people, it builds a deep and convincing world of its own. Rosnau's portraits of three women, especially her voicing of Miss Juul, are indelible. An unforgettable novel. – Alix Hawley
Rosnau has done a masterful job of using the lives of historical figures as the building blocks of a stunning work of fiction. Her source material is identified in the book’s acknowledgements, but it ultimately doesn’t matter how much of the story is true to the historical records and how much is authorial invention. The narrative is utterly spellbinding either way. - Candace Fertile in Quill & Quire, a starred review
REVIEWS
#686 Pleasant Valley seclusion (Mary-Ann and David Stouck, The Ormsby Review, 11/12/2019)
"Rosnau’s skill as a travel writer comes to the fore in evocative, often painterly descriptions of Cairo and especially of Alexandria with its crowded streets, palm gardens, and horseback riding in the desert where every detail is sharply defined and radiant.... [Rosnau] knows the value of style, of elegantly crafted phrases, and well-turned sentences – and she never falters."
The Minerva Reader is back! (Lisa de Nikolits, The Minerva Reader, 11/01/2019)
"This is a beautiful story of endurance and survival."
Little Fortress (Candace Fertile, Quill & Quire, October 2019)
"Rosnau has done a masterful job of using the lives of historical figures as the building blocks of a stunning work of fiction."
INTERVIEWS
A century before Meghan and Harry, this Italian noble family sought refuge in B.C. — and stayed (CBC Sunday Edition 25/01/2020)
"I just carried the story around with me, and the story never, never left me. I think it's similar to a lot of people who hear these women's stories, that they never leave us," said Rosnau.
The Chat with Laisha Rosnau (Trevor Corkum, 49th Shelf, 08/01/2020)
"What would lead a mother, her daughter, and their paid companion into exile, seemingly of their own volition, for a quarter of a century?"
E163 with LAISHA ROSNAU (Jamie Tennant, Get Lit, 02/01/2020)
An interview with Laisha about her novel.
In Conversation with "Little Fortress" Author Laisha Rosnau (Eleanor Hoskins, SAD Magazine, 19/10/2019)
"I thought about the realities of not only immigration but travel, employment and independence for women during that era. Theirs was a privileged sense of cultural displacement, perhaps. They didn't feel they belonged in either the world they immigrated to, or the one they left behind."
ARTICLES
Give the gift of books (Dana Gee, Vancouver Sun, 20/12/2019)
"Rosnau's portraits of three women are wonderfully entertaining and insightful."
Our Top Fiction of 2019 (49th Shelf, 17/12/2019)
Chosen as one of the works of fiction that made the literary year by the staff at 49th Shelf.
Journeys to Exile (49th Shelf, 14/11/2019)
Laisha shares a list of other works that informed or are similar to her novel.
#686 Exile on Pleasant Valley Road (Mary-Ann and David Stouck,The Ormsby Review, 11/12/2019)
"We think Alice Munro would have been thrilled with this splendid novel."
Smutty Shout-Outs (Elaine "Lainey" Lui, LaineyGossip, 11/05/2019)
A shout-out and congratulations to Laisha for launching her new novel.
Vernon house's mysterious inhabitants turn out to be great fodder for novelist (Dana Gee, Vancouver Sun, 20/10/2019)
"I was taken to this huge world. I was fascinated by what created the circumstances, the psychological circumstances that would lead these women from living such huge international lives to being essentially trapped by their own volition in a house in Vernon."
'Little Fortress': A Family's Journey from Noble Life in Rome to Seclusion in Vernon (Dorothy Woodend, The Tyee, 19/10/2019)
"The novel sketch[es] out the tangled, occasionally torturous, intersections of three intermingled lives."
Laisha Rosnau explores the ties that bond in Little Fortress (Ben Bengston, north shore news, 18/10/2019)
"My parents lived up the hill from the house in which the three women eventually secluded themselves."
Canadians Joan Thomas, Laisha Rosnau feature among fall’s historical novels (Tara Henley, CBC Books, 03/10/2019)
"Little Fortress takes readers on a sweeping journey from Roman palaces to a small Canadian town, following the true story of the Caetanis family, Italian nobility who fled fascism to live in exile in the Okanagan Valley."
Vernon author’s new historical novel an exploration of the Caetani family (Brendan Shykora, 28/09/2019)
"'What fascinated me as a novelist' says Rosnau, 'was how did these women who led these really large lives […] come to then seclude themselves in a house on Pleasant Valley Road for 25 years?'"
Most Anticipated: 2019 Fall Fiction Preview (49th Shelf, 01/07/2019)
Laisha's book makes the list of most anticipated fall titles.