After finally finishing Lamb, I dove head first into something completely different, a historical novel called Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers, which had been recommended to me by my equally bibliophilic friend Jen.  Set in the late 17th century, it tells the story of Laure Beausejour, a fille du roi sent from France to Canada to become a soldier's wife and help populate New France.

I enjoy historical fiction so this was right up my alley.  Although I'm familiar with the filles du roi, I didn't really know very much about that period in history and the experience of those girls, so the subject was very interesting.  The main character, Laure, is a fiesty young woman who, torn from her family as an infant, has grown up inside the walls of the Salpêtrière Hospital, which at that time was used as a prison for prostitutes, the mentally ill, orphans, the poor and any other of French society's undesireables.  From one prison she is sent to another of sorts: by royal decree, young women are rounded up and sent overseas to New France, Laure among them. 

The story is very well written and the plot develops at a steady pace.  The characters are well drawn and interesting.  In particular, I found the description of her life at the Salpêtrière, and her relationships with two of the other orphaned girls, compelling and carefully nurtured.  Laure was instantly likeable and engaging and I became invested in her very quickly.  I think that the creation of such a character is no small feat for an author, and I wish I had the book in front of me to have a closer look at how it was accomplished.  In any case, I was pulled into the story and wanted to see what would happen next for Laure.

For me, though, things started to break down around the time that Laure learns that she is being exported, as it were.  I couldn't believe that she would go to Canada so willingly, given that she had a pretty good understanding of the life that awaited her.  I thought she would put up more of a fight.  I don't have half the confidence of the character of Laure, but even I would have had a few unpleasant words to say about the matter.  I expected there to be more of a struggle, an attempt to run away, more bargaining and pleading, the seeking out of other options as futile as it may have been.  She was upset, sure, and expressed her distress about the decision, but her overall complacency did not feel to me to be in line with the character. 

Or perhaps the fatalistic nature of such a decision wasn't made clear.  Perhaps there was just no escape and that was a well known fact and coming to terms with it was all there was to be done.  I don't know.  I would think that even still, in the face of a harrowing journey across the ocean, never to see your homeland again, to go marry some brute you've never met and live in an untamed land, I would think one might consider running away to Spain or something.  It's right there.  (Disclaimer: I know nothing about late 17th century Spain...perhaps it was not the awesome vacation destination I am imagining).

Once Laure reached Canada, the plot seemed to speed up, with jumps in time that took the story to its end much too quickly.  Having invested in the character of Laure, I wanted to know more about her life in the woods, how she coped with learning all she needed to know to survive, and her feelings about the whole thing.  These seemed to be brushed over rather quickly.  She develops a relationship with a native man, a promising plot development with an unsatisfying end.  I've read other reviews that say that this relationship plays out realistically, and that may be the case, but this is historical fiction for a reason.  Fiction requires drama and tension and the genre of historical fiction is so great because it allows for playing within the history.  I wasn't looking for a happy ending by any means, but when the sexual and dramatic tension is building for pages and then fizzles in a paragraph or two, that's disappointing, at least to this reader. 

What would redeem the ending is a sequel.  It's screaming for a sequel as there are a lot of loose ends which need picking up, and in addition to continuing Laure's story, there is an obvious choice for a second protagonist.  I just had a look online to see if there's any word about a sequel and all I can find are other people saying that they too would like to see one.

Faults aside (and what do I know really?), Bride of New France was a good read and I would recommend it.  And if you do read it, I'd love to know what you think, and if you agree with my criticisms or if you think I'm crazy (the two are not mutually exclusive I suppose).  And please keep the recommendations coming!