Marie-Héloïse, fille du Roy
Pour Marie-Héloïse, c’est le début d’un long périple plein de rebondissements. Après la traversée de l’Atlantique, elle épouse en Nouvelle-France un bûcheron canadien. Bientôt, menacés par les Anglais de Nouvelle-Angleterre, ils fuient vers Saint-Domingue (Haïti) avec leur fils, où ils acquièrent une plantation de canne à sucre. À la suite d’une révolte d’esclaves, ils doivent s’exiler à nouveau. Veuve, Marie-Héloïse échoue finalement à la Martinique, après avoir été retenue captive des Indiens caraïbes…
Raphaël Confiant nous conte le destin incroyable de Marie-Héloïse, aventurière malgré elle, ballottée par les vents mauvais de l’histoire, une orpheline parisienne devenue une Blanche créole respectée.
- Littérature générale
- Paru le 05/09/2024
- Genre : Littérature française
- 288 pages - 140 x 205 mm
- EAN : 9782715262973
- ISBN : 9782715262973
Foreign Rights
Marie-Héloïse, the King’s Daughter
All rights available
Presentation
Marie-Héloïse lived in an orphanage in Paris until, at the age of fifteen, she was sent to New France (Quebec). In the 17th century, the kingdom of France was expanding rapidly, and new lands were being opened across the seas. But this “New World” lacked women. Thousands of “filles du Roy” – orphans or prostitutes – were forcibly sent to distant lands to marry settlers and establish the French presence.
For Marie-Héloïse, it was the beginning of an eventful journey. After crossing the Atlantic, she married a Canadian lumberjack in New France. Soon threatened by the English from New England, they fled to Santo Domingo with their son, where they acquired a sugarcane plantation. A slave revolt forced them into exile once again. Widowed, Marie-Héloïse finally ends up in Martinique, after being held captive by the Caribbean Indians...
Raphaël Confiant recounts the incredible destiny of Marie-Héloïse, an adventuress in spite of herself, tossed about by the ill winds of history, a penniless Parisian orphan who became a respected white Creole.
Raphaël Confiant lives in Martinique, where he was born. He is one of the leaders of the Creolity literary movement and the author of numerous novels, including Mme Saint-Clair, reine de Harlem (translated in English language/USA at Dialogos Books, audiovisual rights under option), Grand Café Martinique and La muse ténébreuse de Charles Baudelaire.
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