Isola & sourdough-ish bread

Captivating historical fiction about a young woman marooned on an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence...

May 11, 2025

Hello and welcome to Good Book/Good Bread! I just got back from a belated honeymoon in Spain, and before I left, I went through my typical pre-travel mania of taking out ebooks from the library. I have a fear of not having anything to read while travelling. Being alone with my thoughts on long travel days? Absolutely not! While browsing books to check out, I was immediately captivated by the cover art for this issue’s book, Isola by Allegra Goodman. It reminded me so much of Scott O’Dell’s Island of the Blue Dolphins, a book I loved as a kid about a young Nicoleño girl who is left alone on San Nicolas Island for 18 years after her tribe is relocated by Europeans.

I loved Isola. It had everything I enjoy in fiction: complex characters, adventure, and unexpected turns. I was engrossed on the plane, and while in Spain I looked forward to reading a chapter or two before bed each night. I hope you enjoy reading the review below and checking out the bread I baked to go with it. And, if you’ve read Isola, let me know what you thought of it in the comments!

**Plus: I’ve launched a bread baking YouTube channel! You can check it out here.**

Good Book: Isola by Allegra Goodman (2025)

Isola in a nutshell

Marguerite de la Rocque is the orphaned heir to a fortune in 16th-century France. When we meet her, she is living in her family’s castle under the care of her longtime maid, Damienne. Marguerite’s finances are controlled by a volatile male relative, Roberval, who slowly siphons her wealth away on exploratory naval expeditions and gambling. With only Damienne for company, Marguerite watches as the life and resources her parents left for her dwindle.

Eventually Roberval sells Marguerite’s castle and grounds, and she has no choice but to move into his home and live like a servant. Then at 20, she is forced to board his ship on a trans-Atlantic journey to help establish the colony of New France, in present-day Canada. The conditions on the ship are dreadful, but Marguerite forms a close friendship with Roberval’s young secretary, Auguste. When their bond becomes romantic, Roberval finds out and is furious. In a rage, he casts Marguerite, Damienne, and Auguste off the ship, abandoning them on a rugged, tree-less island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Isola in three words

Moody, tense, unexpected

What I liked about Isola

1. Voice

The story is told by Marguerite, who has spent her entire upbringing keeping her true feelings and desires hidden. This comes through in the restrained and cool way she tells her story. Despite the horrors of being marooned on a desolate island and left to die, the narration is factual and removed in a way that makes it feel very real.

2. Changes in setting

The setting changes multiple times in Isola. Marguerite’s story unfolds in her family castle, Roberval’s home, the ship, and on the island. Each environment brings new expectations for how she should act, and how much freedom she has. As the demands and isolation of each setting intensified, she transformed from a somewhat unremarkable protagonist to a force.

3. Roots in history

I loved Allegra Goodman’s author’s note at the end of the book. She explains that while reading her son a library book about New France, she came across a few sentences that referenced noblewoman Marguerite de La Rocque, who was cast off a 1542 voyage onto an unnamed island with her lover and servant. Goodman was taken aback by the brief reference, and it stayed in the back of her mind for years before she used it as the basis of this historical fiction. I love the idea of an author 500 years after this voyage being so captivated by a few sentences, and being able to develop a compelling and rich story about what could have happened on that lonely island.

Good Bread: Sourdough-ish bread

I love sourdough. One of my favourite things is thinking up different variations to make (see here, here, and here). On days where I’m already planning to be puttering around the house, it’s so nice to have some sourdough production on the go. But this week? This week I’m jet-lagged, kind of cranky, and feeling overwhelmed by life. This week, I was not about to bake something that took all day.

I decided to experiment with making a simple instant-yeast dough, and then just adding some of my sourdough starter to it. After mixing, I let the bread rise for an hour before baking, and it felt like a low time commitment for a gorgeous loaf we enjoyed with a bowl of curry. Recipe below!

Recipe for sourdough-ish bread

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups of warm water

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp instant yeast

1/2 cup of active sourdough starter

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

Instructions

In a medium sized bowl, combine warm water, instant yeast, and sugar. Let stand for 10 minutes until foamy.

Pour yeast mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add sourdough starter and break up with your hands or a spatula.

Add salt.

Add flour and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Turn out on a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, or until the surface of the dough is smooth and springy.

Lightly oil or line a loaf tin with parchment paper. Place dough in tin, and let rise in a warm place for one hour.

Pre-heat oven to 450.

Score the top of the loaf. Bake for 23-25 minutes on a middle rack, until the loaf is golden brown.

Why this bread for this book?

Once on the island, Marguerite was a busy gal. Her, Auguste, and her servant Damienne were cast out with only what they could carry. Given that, they spent all day working hard to survive—hunting, foraging, building shelter, looking for water, and keeping an eye out for bears. The entirety of her waking hours were devoted to practical matters. Given that, I thought I’d honor her with a bread that was also practical.

Looking forward:

Book I’m looking forward to reading: The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan

Music I’m looking forward to listening to: Virgin by Lorde

Bread I’m looking forward to baking: Justine Snack’s ripple bread

Thank you for reading! If you liked this issue, forward along to a friend. If you hated it, please forward along to an enemy.