Historical Fiction Favorite
DAUGHTER OF THE KING
Kerry Chaput
1700s, France / Cananda, 245 pages
Daughter of the King by debut novelist Kerry Chaput, exposes the struggles of the French Protestants (the Huguenots) against the Catholic Church. The story unfolds the desires of the main character, Isabelle Colette, a young woman seeking refuge from the unspeakable brutality of Catholic soldiers in the Royal Army. Isabelle’s hopes to remain true to her religious beliefs and keep her family and friends safe become more dangerous than her fears. Exiled from her home, she travels to Rouen, facing more loss and peril along the way, until an ultimate sacrifice presents herself: choosing to live sends her to New France as a Filles du Roi, a daughter of the king, the 17th century version of a mail-order bride. In Quebec City, Isabelle summons her strength, buried as deep as her Protestant bible, to battle new political struggles in a new land. From poverty-stricken wine-imbued hovels to the bowels of a ship crossing the Atlantic, to forests in the wilds of Canada, readers walk, run, and flee with Isabelle as she continually hunts down her fears to triumph in purpose. I received an ARC of Daughter of the King in exchange for my honest review.
