Alone in an Untamed Land: The Filles du Roi Diary of Hélène St. Onge

Elisabeth Anne MacDonald-Murray is a private scholar, writing and
editing in Souris, Manitoba.

Once again, Scholastic Canada has produced another excellent edition in
its Dear Canada series of historical fiction for young readers. Maxine
Trottier’s account of a young French girl’s journey to the New World
lives up to the series’ reputation of engaging and entertaining
writing combined with well-researched historical detail.

Hélиne St. Onge, a feisty and intelligent 13-year-old aristocratic
orphan, sails to Montreal with her older sister, Catherine, who is
intended to marry one of the young colony’s many single men and help
to populate New France. When Catherine dies on the voyage, Hélиne
takes her place as one of the filles а marier and embarks on a new
life. In the new land she encounters such notables of Canadian history
as Marie de l’Incarnation (first superior of the Ursulines of Quebec),
Jeanne Mance (the first secular nurse of North America, co-founder of
the little mission-colony at Montreal and founder of its Hфtel-Dieu
hospital), and Marguerite Bourgeoys (founder of the Sisters of the
Congregation of Notre-Dame). Related in the series’ signature style as
a series of diary entries that cover the course of a year from the
spring of 1666 to that of 1667, the story vividly conveys the hardships,
danger, and excitement that new immigrants faced in the strange and
untamed land that was New France.

Trottier’s careful research is clearly reflected in all aspects of
the narrative; in fact, as she notes in the book, in the course of her
research she discovered that she herself was the descendent of a fille
du roi. The book includes extensive historical materials in the text, a
historical note, maps and pictures, and a glossary of French and Mohawk
terms.

Alone in an Untamed Land is a volume that any reader will find
enjoyable and informative. Highly recommended.