Rheta Press present!

Heliotrope--French Heritage Women Create

AND also,
Wednesday's Child (see below)

*Canuck and Other Stories (see below)

Available for Readings and Presentations, (see below), please contact Rhea Cote Robbins for more info

*Reviews, Critiques, writings, etc.

AND new publication, 2nd part in the memoir trilogy

'down the Plains'
 
 

'down the Plains'




Rhea Cote Robbins' Interviews:




Rhea Cote Robbins reading from her memoir, 'down the Plains.'

Chapter 16
"Other Means of Fire" 4:05
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxl1lobq2DQ&feature=youtu.be
 
Chapter 26
"Slicking Up" 3:59
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BP72tBFH20&feature=youtu.be



'down the Plains'
A Franco-American memoir, 2nd Installment in trilogy
by Rhea Côté Robbins
# Paperback: 194 pages
# Publisher: Rheta Press (June 25, 2013)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0615841104
# ISBN-13: 978-0615841106
More info--Read excerpts from 'down the Plains'
Available from Amazon.com

 



 

Wednesday's Child

A Franco-American memoir, 1st Installment in trilogy
by Rhea Côté Robbins


Winner of the Maine Chapbook Award!
This is the story of a neighborhood and beyond.
 

This is the story of a woman who lived the life of the mill town and its inhabitants.
This is the true story of that town and its people told from her experiences of them.

A creative nonfiction memoir about
growing up and living Franco-American.
The story of a culture in Maine and beyond.
Used as a textbook in many college classrooms for:
cultural, women's, sociology, English, French, 
writing and other studies.
Read an excerpt from Wednesday's Child


Wednesday's Child listed in the
Literary Map of Maine!


Franco-American Women's Words in Maine, Rhea Cote Robbins
Maine Humanities Council
Maine Festival of the Book
Portland, Maine



<>EmpoweringWomenTV, Maine Authors interview with author
Rhea Cote Robbins



Now in its 5th printing!

Wednesday's Child
is included in the 
Who's Who of American Women, 2000-present
Terry Plunkett Maine Writers Collection, University of Maine at Augusta
Maine Women Writers Collection, Abplanalp Library, Westbrook College
Yale Collection of American Literature, Yale University
New York Public Library
Maine Arts Commission Directory

 

How to order your copy of
Wednesday's Child
Textbook orders, please contact Rheta Press directly!
Paperback: 96 pages
Publisher: Rheta Press (January 16, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0966853644
ISBN-13: 978-0966853643

Ask for it at your local bookstore
or order by U.S. mail/or email:
Rheta Press
641 South Main Street
Brewer, Maine  04412-2516
$12.99 plus $4 shipping and handling
Maine Residents please pay 5.5% state tax
To purchase by
by credit card, Paypal, visit this link
http://www.rhetapress.com/SalesbyRhetapress.html



Wednesday's Child-Available from Amazon.com



Rheta Press is a member vendor of
Maine Craft Association
Books available at 
Center for Maine Craft



Rheta Press is a member vendor of
Maine Made

Canuck and Other Stories

*see review of Canuck and Other Stories below
 
 

Translations in French Available, see below
Canuck et d'Autres Histoires, French Language Edition
 
 


Canuck and Other Stories

Rhea Côté Robbins, Editor
 

Canuck, by Camille Lessard Bissonnette, (1883-1970), 
translated by Sue Huseman, Ph.D. and Sylvie Charron, Ph.D.
is a book which reflects the French Canadian immigration 
experience from a young woman's point of view. 
The protagonist, Vic, is a very modern young
woman who sets out to accomplish 
many things in her new country, the U.S. 

La Jeune Franco-Américaine, The Young Franco-American
by Alberte Gastonguay, (1906-1978), 
translated by Madeleine C. Paré Roy,
is a study of the life of a young woman 
who is seeking her way in the world. 
She meets many suitors and comes to the
conclusion of a satisfactory ending 
in the ways of traditional culture. 

Françaises d'Amérique, Frenchwomen of North America
by Corinne Rocheleau Rouleau, (1881-1963), 
translated by Jeannine Bacon Roy,
is a one act play which features the heroines 
who helped settle New France. 
This play proves their presence 
on the North American continent 
and is as fresh today as the day it was first presented.
To purchase by
by credit card, Paypal, visit this link
http://www.rhetapress.com/SalesbyRhetapress.html
 

To Order, Available online:


Available from Amazon.com

Canuck and Other Stories
from
Rheta Press
Paperback: 290 pages 
Language: English 
ISBN: 0966853628 
List Price: $18.99



 
Camille Lessard-Bissonnette (1883-1970), the author of Canuck, emigrated from Quebec to Lewiston with her family in 1904 at the age of twenty. Although she left that city a few years later and subsequently resided in various parts of Canada and the United States--she died at Long Beach, California--she never forgot her experiences working in a textile mill in Lewiston for four years before finding employment as a feature writer for Le Messager, the local French-language newspaper.  Her novel, which appeared in 1936, is set in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1900, but she drew heavily upon her experiences in Lewiston.  A...well structured story that grips the reader.  Canuck is probably the most important novel in French, now translated, by a Franco-American writer.

A more specialized study of Franco-American novels of the 1930s found they were not devoid of interest, particularly as they shed light on contemporary attitudes and values.  Alberte Gastonguay-Sasseville (1906-1978), the daughter of a prosperous insurance agent in Lewiston, Maine, published La Jeune Franco-Américaine in 1933.  The novel tells of a young woman's struggle to remain faithful to her Catholic and Franco-American upbringing despite the lures of modern life (e.g., the blandishments of a divorced man, the amorous advances of her employer, the bad example of a girlfriend who leads a life of debauchery). 

Comments from:
"The French-Canadian Heritage in New England" by Gerard J. Brault

Also:
"Frenchwomen of North America," by Corinne Rocheleau Rouleau, a one-act play commissioned in 1915....In the preface of "French Women of North America," translated by Jeannine Bacon Roy, Corinne Rocheleau in 1915 writes, "We have often discussed the major feats and accomplishments of the French colonists, but we have left their "better halves" in semi-darkness. I believe it is time to introduce these Frenchwomen pioneers. The centuries have practically erased all traces of their footsteps on American soil."
more on Corinne:
http://www.catholicauthors.com/roleau.html

-----
Franco-American Women's Literary Tradition: A Central Piece in the Region's Literary Mosaic 

Written and Presented by Rhea Côté Robbins
Visit this site

*Review of the anthology:
Anthology of French stories resurrects three women writers and their Franco-American heritage

Monday, May 14, 2007 - Bangor Daily News
By Melissa MacCrae, BDN Staff
Bangor Daily News
at this link:
http://www.rhetapress.com/Canuckbdnreview.html

Canuck and Other Stories
By Camille Lessard Bissonette, Corinne Rocheleau Rouleau, and Alberte Gastonguay
Translated by Sue Huseman, Ph.D., Sylvie Charrron, Ph.D., Jeannine Bacon Roy, and Madeleine C. Paré Roy
Edited by Rhea Côté Robbins, 2006
Reviewed by Tanya Avakian
at Cabinet des Fées
https://www.cabinetdesfees.com/2009/canuck-and-other-stories/


Canuck et d'Autres Histoires, French Language Edition
Edited by Rhea Côté Robbins
Transcribed by Bridget T. Robbins

Cover art Canuck et d'Autres Histoires

 

To purchase a CD of the book, or download a .pdf file after purchase 
Visit this site
http://www.rhetapress.com/SalesbyRhetapress.html




 

 

Author, Rhea Côté (Cote) Robbins

Readings & Presentations/Exhibitions

Biography and Publication Credits

Course listings which Côté (Cote) Robbins' taught, no longer offered


L'enfant du lundi est beau comme un dieu,
L'enfant du mardi est tout gracieux,
L'enfant du mercredi a du chagrin,
L'enfant du jeudi doit faire long chemin,
L'enfant du vendredi a l'âme pure,
L'enfant du samedi travaille bien dur,
Mais l'enfant du dimanche, comme tout le monde sait,
Est gentil et joyeux et bon et gai.




 


©Copyright, Rhea Cote Robbins
The URL for this page is: 
http://www.rhetapress.com/ 
Date last updated:  May 2023 
For comments or help, write the author 

Rhea J. Côté (Cote) Robbins is Director of the 

Franco-American Women's Institute