Banished from France by King Louis XIV, once royal favorite Sylvienne d'Aubert must make the dangerous ocean crossing with a group of young women eager to secure husbands in the French colony of Quebec as Filles du Roi (Daughters of the King). Sylvienne, however, scarred by an abusive, arranged marriage in France, vows never to wed again. She is determined to one day return to her beloved homeland and to her lover, Etienne.
Clinging to hope that her true love still lives, she must first survive hardships and challenges unique to the Canadian frontier and rebuild her life in a young colony that is at once welcoming and dangerous. She finds friendship in unexpected places and allies among the Native people while developing a resilience she didn't know she possessed.
But the king's reach is long, and Sylvienne's past haunts her at every turn in this saga of new beginnings, survival, and determination of the heart.
Praise
"Peggy Joque Williams captures readers with a gripping frontier saga of love, loss, and struggle-proving even the wilderness of New France isn't far enough away from the mother country to escape the long arm of the Crown."
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Peggy Joque Williams
Award-winning author Peggy Joque Williams writes historical fiction inspired by her love of genealogy and her deep historical research into her European, French-Canadian, and Ojibwe ancestors.
Prior to Braving the Dawn, she first penned Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles, a prequel following her character Sylvienne’s rise and fall at court. She has also co-authored two contemporary mystery novels: On the Road to Death’s Door and On the Road to Where the Bells Toll.
A retired elementary school teacher, Peggy has both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in education. She enjoys travel, gardening, and spending time with family. She lives Madison, Wisconsin.
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