Here’s something we missed last month: Raphaël Confiant’s Marie-Héloïse, fille du Roy was published by Mercure de France in early September 2024. Can’t wait to read this one!
Description: Marie-Héloïse lives in an orphanage in Paris until she is sent to New France (Quebec) at the age of fifteen. In the 17th century, the kingdom of France is expanding rapidly: new lands are being conquered across the seas. But this “New World” lacks women. Thousands of “Daughters of the King” – orphans or prostitutes – are forcibly sent to these distant lands to marry settlers and start families. For Marie-Héloïse, this is the beginning of a long journey full of twists and turns. After crossing the Atlantic, she marries a Canadian lumberjack in New France. Soon, threatened by the English of New England, they flee to Saint-Domingue (Haiti) with their son, where they acquire a sugar cane plantation. Following a slave revolt, they are forced into exile again. Widowed, Marie-Héloïse finally moves to Martinique, after having been held captive by Caribs…
Raphaël Confiant tells us the incredible destiny of Marie-Héloïse, an accidental adventurer, tossed about by the rough winds of history, a Parisian orphan who became a respected Creole white woman.
Raphaël Confiant was born in 1951 in Lorrain, Martinique. An activist for the Creole cause since the 1970s, he participated with Jean Bernabé and Patrick Chamoiseau in the creation of the Créolité movement. He is a recognized writer in both Creole and French. He is currently a lecturer at the University of the Antilles and Guyana [Université des Antilles et de la Guyane].
For more information, see https://www.mercuredefrance.fr/marie-heloise-fille-du-roy/9782715262973