Bride of New France

A richly imagined novel is about a young French woman sent to settle in the New World that Joseph Boyden, the Scotiabank Giller Prize winner, calls “a gorgeous historical debut.”

Transporting readers from cosmopolitan seventeenth-century Paris to the Canadian frontier, this vibrant debut tells of the struggle to survive in a brutal time and place.

Laure Beausejour has been taken from her destitute family and raised in an infamous orphanage to be trained as a lace maker. Striking and willful, she dreams of becoming a seamstress and catching the eye of a nobleman. But after complaining about her living conditions, she is sent to Canada as a fille du roi, expected to marry a French farmer there. Laure is shocked by the primitive state of the colony and the mingling of the settlers with the native tribes. When her ill-matched husband leaves her alone in their derelict hut for the winter, she must rely on her wits and her clandestine relationship with an Iroquois man for survival.

Praise for Bride of New France

“A moody, beautiful piece of historical fiction.” —Dana Medoro, Winnipeg Free Press

“Desrochers sheds new light on an all but forgotten chapter in the history of Canada. . . . The fascinating backstory propels the elegant . . . narrative.” — Margaret Flanagan, Booklist

“A wholly original example of social history at its best.” —John Barber, The Globe and Mail

“Historical fiction fans will appreciate the rich period details and commiserate with believable characters modeled after the founding mothers of French Canada.” — Andrea Brooks, Library Journal