It is 1704 and while the Sun King Louis XIV rules France from the splendour ofVersailles Louisiana the new and vast colony named in his honour is home tofewer t... » 

It is 1704 and while the Sun King Louis XIV rules France from the splendour ofVersailles Louisiana the new and vast colony named in his honour is home tofewer than two hundred souls. When a demand is sent requesting wives bedispatched for the struggling settlers Elisabeth is among the twentythreegirls who set sail from France to be married to men of whom they knowabsolutely nothing. Educated and skeptical Elisabeth has little hope forhappiness in her new life. It is to her astonishment that she alone among thebrides finds herself passionately in love with her new husband JeanClaude acharismatic and ruthlessly ambitious soldier. Auguste a poor cabin boy fromRochefort must also adjust to a startlingly unexpected future. Abandoned in aremote native village he is charged by the colonys governor with masteringthe tribes strange language while reporting back on their activities. It isthere that he is befriended by Elisabeths husband as he begins the slowprocess of assimilation back into life among the French. The love Elisabethand Auguste share for JeanClaude changes both of their lives irrevocably. Whenin time he betrays them both they find themselves bound together in ways theynever anticipated. With the same compelling prose and vividly realizedcharacters that won her widespread acclaim for THE GREAT STINK and THE NATUREOF MONSTERS Clare Clark takes us deep into the heart of colonial FrenchLouisiana. «