Promised to the Crown by Aimie K. Runyan

The colorful, detailed historical backdrop adds to this feminist tale of courage and survival.

Readers will be completely engaged by the well-developed characters’ triumphs and tragedies. 'Runyan follows Promised to the Crown with another atmospheric, carefully researched story of four young women building lives in the wilderness. Drawn into unexpected friendship through their loves, losses, and dreams of home and family, all three women will have to call on their bravery and resilience to succeed in this new world. And Manon Lefebvre, born in the Huron village and later adopted by settlers, has faced the prejudices of both societies and is convinced she can no longer be accepted in either. Gabrielle, orphan daughter of the town drunkard, is forced into a loveless union by a cruel law that requires her to marry by her sixteenth birthday. French-born Claudine has followed her older sister across the Atlantic hoping to attract a wealthy husband through her beauty and connections. Yet whether in the fledgling city of Quebec or within one of the native tribes, every woman's fate depends on the man she chooses-or is obligated-to marry.Īlthough Claudine Deschamps and Gabrielle Giroux both live within the settlement, their prospects are very different. In 1677, an invisible wall separates settlers in New France from their Huron neighbors. Runyan's vividly rendered novel provides a fascinating portrait of the women who would become the founding mothers of New France. Set amid the promise and challenge of the first Canadian colonies, Aimie K. Book 2 in the Daughters of New France Series

Promised to the Crown by Aimie K. Runyan