Characters

Marie-Charlotte Tarieu Taillant de Lanaudière

Madame de Lanaudière represents the fifth generation of a family line going back seven generations. Her family name, « Lanaudière », was to become the name of the region. She married Barthélemy Joliette, founder of the city that today bears his name. As was the custom of the day, she relates her life story in terms of her husband’s life. Her era was that of the early beginnings of the railroad and the forestry industry (1830-1850).

Jeanne Fleuricourt

Jeanne (a fictional character) is an early settler in New France. She and her husband, Nicolas Sarrazin, set up home on the seigniory of La Chesnaye. Building a house and property, working the land, trading furs and supporting a large family was the life’s work of these early pioneers. They lived and intense existence, season by season, against the backdrop of a rugged land and its harsh climate.

Mademoiselle Constance Beauregard

Mademoiselle Constance (a fictional character) was the teacher at the little school in her Lanaudière village. She taught almost all the children in who lived there. Over the years there were suitors, but she always declined in deference to her vocation : teaching. Then around her fiftieth birthday, an introduction to a certain clerical gentleman made her heart go pitter-patter. What would become of the beloved spinster teacher?