King Louis needed ladies for his colony, so he shipped off as many volunteers as he could - les filles du roi, as it were. On this single historical fact rests the entire premise of Aimie Runyan's Promised to the Crown. I don't mean to sound snarky - this is a great read and the three main characters - Rose, Elisabeth, and Nicole - are, for lack of a better term, lovely. Runyan has given each of them an interesting backstory in France - there's the beloved farmer's daughter who has left reluctantly so to spare her parents a mouth to feed and a dowry to meet, the abused former aristocrat whose past has scarred her into taking the vows of a nun, and the daughter of a Parisian boulangère who dreamed of inheriting the family business. Once in Quebec, Runyan endows each with a similarly varied and intriguing life.
Though it could easily be classed as a tale of hardship on the frontier, Promised to the Crown is more the story of the bonds of friendship. (In that way, it reminded me regularly of One Thousand White Women, though I much preferred Promised to the Crown.) All three of the protagonists are genuinely likeable; if I were to quibble over anything in Runyan's work, it is the fact that despite the hardships that are introduced, the story does seem a teensy bit too happy-happy and I had a hard time believing their lives really could have turned out just so. Although of a different time and place, the lives in Gentle Tamers and Plantation Mistress seemed far more realistic than those that Runyan's ladies lead. For that reason, I lean more toward three-and-a-half stars than four, but in the scheme of things, this isn't a major complaint.
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