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How considerate of Madam Pajaud to take every word from her exhaustive interviews regarding MY ANCESTORS and promptly throw them aside to craft her own fanciful romance! It's abominable what she's done to what is very clearly a cautionary tale based on a legacy of very real generational pain!
I am writing this account to set the record straight on the most egregious of Madam Pajaud's liberties taken in The Tempest and the Sunflower. The account that follows are details of the story of Arnoit Dufort (my ancestor) and Lisette Mornard (his lover, allegedly) as I heard it from my parents, who were told by their parents, and so on until one reaches the family to whom this tragedy actually happened.
Describing Arnoit as "the golden son of shipbuilders" is, I'm sorry to say, where the accuracies in this tale end. The book paints Lisette Mornard as this impossibly radiant creature: clever, brave, skilled as a knight, and a martyr for love. Is she all things to all people? It's our first hint that this is a clear work of fiction, with no attempt to hide Madam Pajaud's obvious bias in favor of the Mornard family.
I'd assumed readers would balk at a romance formed from nothing more than an eye-batting glance and a series of letters. Who ever heard of something so shallow, so ridiculous? I'm afraid, dear readers, that Lisette is not the brave, beautiful character that Madam Pajaud paints her to be (or perhaps who Madam Pajaud wishes she was herself).
The truth is that while watching a tourney at Castle Navire as a young girl, Lisette Mornard offered a favor to Sir Arnoit, who accepted it out of kindness. Lisette grew obsessed with him over the intervening years, and when he did not return her affections, I am sorry to say that she did indeed turn to the druids. There's no druid-poisoned blade in the real story, but rather a cup offered in false kindness filled with a druidic love potion. Yes, Lisette Mornard was secretly a witch, seeking to bring downfall to a noble family of the Systres using druidic magic. Look no further than Vastyr to see the suspicious closeness of the druids and House Mornard even to this day.
Lisette then persuaded the bewitched Arnoit to steal a ship with her. Apparently, she'd planned to take him to Y'ffelon to enact some druidic ritual that would rain fire from Mount Firesong down on Galen so it could finally belong to the druids. However, and here's where accounts are admittedly disputed, their ship was either attacked by pirates, or Lisette ran it aground and the two of them were devoured by slaughterfish while trying to swim to shore. Either way, the tale depicts a sad casualty of a beloved ancestor seduced by a foul temptress, but we can take solace that at least Lisette met a fitting end no matter which story happens to be true.
The book, on the other hand, tries to paint the two as effectual leaders, sympathetic to the needs of their subjects. They die for "true love" and leave the reader dissatisfied on an ambiguous ending. Even in its attempt at fiction, it fails to be engaging on every front! It's pathetic and sad. Spare yourself reading it if you can.