Everyone knows that the used Australia as a prison colony in the late 18th century / early 19th century. What I didn't know was that people were imprisoned in France in the 1600s for being poor. Debtors prison perhaps? But then imprisoned single women were shipped to Canada to be married to men who had moved there for the fur trade, etc.
The historical facts are really the selling points of Bride of New France. The story follows the life of Laure from her childhood in the prison being used as essentially slave labor for the production of lace. When she gets on the bad side of a prison administrator, Laure is sent to Canada, but this doesn't occur until more than half way through the novel. Laure is a survivor, so once she arrives she must figure out ways to survive under vastly different conditions than she had in France. She doesn't waste her time with existential questions like is she better off.
The story is very much a character study of what the experience must have been like through the eyes of a woman with reasonably modern sensibilities.
Long Story Short: An interesting read if not a dramatic page turner.
The historical facts are really the selling points of Bride of New France. The story follows the life of Laure from her childhood in the prison being used as essentially slave labor for the production of lace. When she gets on the bad side of a prison administrator, Laure is sent to Canada, but this doesn't occur until more than half way through the novel. Laure is a survivor, so once she arrives she must figure out ways to survive under vastly different conditions than she had in France. She doesn't waste her time with existential questions like is she better off.
The story is very much a character study of what the experience must have been like through the eyes of a woman with reasonably modern sensibilities.
Long Story Short: An interesting read if not a dramatic page turner.
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