Marie-Laure De Shazer

I Was Called the Little Chinese Marie-Laure De Shazer

In the summer of 1669 the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier de la Salle left Montreal on his quest to find China. His trip to Quebec was a failure and many mocked him and derisively named him " The Little Chinese". The name stuck, and part of the island of Montreal is called "Lachine" (China) to this day. This novel is a gripping memoir and a survivor's story about Marina, a young French woman who was viewed as mentally ill, a slow learner, and therefore labeled " The Little Chinese". Like La Salle, Marina was mocked and associated with China. Her mother, her French teacher, and her peers could not understand what she was saying. Marina suffered greatly throughout her life from a traumatic childhood and accused of having defective genes.