Before the filles du
roi...Desperate to escape her past, Jeanne, a poor widow, accompanies a rich woman to Quebec. The sea voyage is long, one of privation and danger. In 1640,
the decision to emigrate takes raw courage, but the struggling colony of
Quebec, so far a collection of rough soldiers and fur traders, needs French
women if it is ever to take firm root in the wilderness.
May is, in many old world traditions, the Hawthorne month--beautiful flowers, sharp thorns--a month of contradictions, a time of rebirth and penitence. The Romans and many of the Celtic and Britannic nations as well observed it as a month of celibacy. For housewives, it was a month of house cleaning, necessary after the smoke and soot of a long sequestered winter spent indoors.
So, here we are again, in May, one that has lived up to both sides of her nature. We've had 90 degree days, tricking the fruit trees into full bloom. This was, almost at once, followed by heavy freezes all over the northeastern US. The much anticipated fruit crop has been badly damaged. Some orchards have lost everything. Many small, local farms will be financially ruined. It's horrible to imagine what industrial evil will seize their land.
The thorns have drawn blood; Ostara is not pleased with us. This humble mortal thinks she has reasons.
This May has been a mourning month for authors here at BWL, for we've lost our fearless leader, Jude Pittman, who, with the help of friends and angels, braved the early 2000's e-pub experiment. She rescued many of us from obscurity when she discovered/appreciated our work and asked us to join her venture.
An introvert historian, I was never part of her closest circle, but I was always grateful for her confidence in me as a writer. My fourteen books would never have seen the light of day without her. She was like a battery--she powered us all forward until the day she'd given every ounce of her energy. Then, suddenly, like a battery, she died. It's hard to imagine things without her.
She called me a year ago and asked me to write another Quebec book for her, a paranormal, a bit out of my natural purview. With a sick husband and no family nearby to help and many, many chainsaws in the air, I really hadn't thought of putting the writer part of myself to work in that way again, but there she was--Jude's voice on the phone--saying she wanted me to do it. So, here I am, in the middle of another creation, another story willed into existence by her--and by her John Wisdomkeeper, the Standing Bear in her life.
"Hail the Traveler." Safe journey.
~~Juliet Waldron
Fly Away
Snow Goose
Transport to Fort
Providence residential school is only the beginning of their ordeal, for the
teachers believe it is their sworn duty to “kill the Indian inside.” All
attempts at escape are severely punished, but Yaotl and Sascho, along with two
others, will run away, undertaking a journey of 900 kilometers across the Northwest
Territory. Like wild geese, brave hearts together, they are homeward bound.
