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169 pages

English

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When Elizabeth Gharsia's headstrong nephew, Gabriel, joins Samuel Champlain's 1608 expedition to establish a settlement at Quebec, he soon becomes embroiled in a complicated tribal conflict. As months turn into years, Gabriel appears lost to his family.Meanwhile at home in France the death of her father, Luis, adds to Elizabeth's anguish. Devastated by her loss, she struggles to make sense of his final words. Could her mother's journals, found hidden among Luis's possessions, provide the key to the mystery?The arrival of Pedro Torres disrupts Elizabeth's world even further. Rescued from starvation on the streets of Marseille by her brother, Pedro is a victim of the brutal expulsion of his people from Spain. Initially antagonistic, will Elizabeth come to appreciate Pedro's qualities and to understand the complexity of her family?

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Canada

Historical fiction

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Publié par	Troubador Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	17 juin 2020
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781838598600
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Copyright © 2020 Barbara Greig

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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For my family
Contents
List Of Characters

Prologue

Luis
1557
One
Two
Three
Four
Five

Gabriel
1608
Six
Seven
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven

Elizabeth
1610
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen

Meg
1557
Twenty
Twenty-One
Twenty-Two

Elizabeth
1610–11
Twenty-Three
Twenty-Four

Gabriel
1611
Twenty-Five
Twenty-Six
Twenty-Seven

Pedro
1611
Twenty-Eight
Twenty-Nine
Thirty
Thirty-One
Thirty-Two

Epilogue
List Of Characters
All are fictional except those marked*

1557
Hernando Gharsia – a Morisco physician living in Caors, Pays d’Oc, France
Luis Gharsia – his grandson, a vintner and saffron producer, and lawyer
Johan Berenguer – the Gharsias’ loyal servant
Ysabel Bernade – wealthy widow of Michel Bernade and Hernando Gharsia’s loving companion
Guilhem Gaulbert – Ysabel’s brother, vintner
Loise Gaulbert – his wife
Henri Gaulbert – his son, vintner
Marie Gaulbert – his daughter, estranged wife of Luis Gharsia
Thomas Weaver (deceased) – merchant of Bridgwater, Somerset, England
Alyce Weaver – his elder daughter, put aside by her clergyman husband, Matthew Blake, on Mary I’s accession to the throne
Rufus Weaver (deceased) – his son, burnt at the stake as a Protestant martyr
Meg Weaver – his youngest child by his second wife, Margaret Mercer
Jane Blake – daughter of Alyce Weaver and Matthew Blake
Edward Mercer – merchant of Lewes, Sussex, England; brother-in-law of Thomas Weaver
Catherine Mercer – his wife
John Mercer – his son
Tom Flint – fisherman from Hastings
Wat Flint – his nephew
Lord Wentworth – Deputy of Calais*
John Highfield – Master of Ordnance at Calais*

1607
Luis Gharsia – a widower, vintner and saffron producer, retired lawyer
Thomas Gharsia – his son, a Huguenot scholar (French Protestant)
Joseph Gharsia – his second son, a physician
Elizabeth Gharsia – his daughter
Gabriel Gharsia – his grandson, son of Joseph and Ana Cavalina, a student
Pedro Torres – a Morisco expelled from Spain
Jacques Gaulbert – son of Henri Gaulbert, vintner
Helena Gaulbert – his wife
Luc Gaulbert – his son, vintner
Sara Gaulbert – Jacques’s mother
Catarina – the Gharsias’ maid
Samuel Champlain – French explorer and cartographer*
François Pont-Gravé – a ship’s commander and explorer*
Guillaume Le Testu – a ship’s captain and explorer*

First Settlers in Kebec
Etienne Brûlé*
Nicolas Marsolet*
Jean Duval*
Natel*
Bonnerme*

First Nations: Montagnais
Mashk
Wyome

First Nations: Mohawk
Matwau
Sheauga
Oheo
Aarushi

Jacob Eelkens – Dutch commander of Fort van Nassouwen*
Prologue
Caors, The Pays d’Oc, December 1607
Gabriel Gharsia pushed open the door, intruding on the heavy silence. The old oak, swollen with the damp, grated across the uneven slabs, grinding the rushes into dust. He stopped, inhaled the familiar musty smell which pervaded the hall during the winter months when the shutters were firmly closed against the cold rising from the river, and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dim interior. He flexed his shoulders, easing the tension caused by too long in the saddle, and revelled in the quietness, the absolute peace of being home. He raised his eyes to the lofty roof where the original beams slowly came into focus, unaltered since the day a nervous bride had stood next to Michel Bernade, almost a century before, and realised the true extent of her new husband’s wealth. Gabriel’s grandfather, when he had inherited the property, had refused to modernise by lowering the ceiling and adding an extra floor so the house appeared archaic when compared to those the young man knew in Paris. Nevertheless, today, Gabriel welcomed the spaciousness, tired as he was from the journey. He glanced around, stretched his back, and made his way to the small chamber where he expected to find his grandfather.
The old man woke with a start as the latch clicked and the book he had been reading slid to the floor with a thud. He blinked. His eyes, rimmed by the passing years, but still black and intense, were wary as he strained to see.
“Jibra’il?” he questioned. Confused in the moment of waking, he used the Arabic form of his grandson’s name.
Gabriel suppressed the urge to correct his grandfather, which was his usual reaction. Instead, sobered by the uneasy thought that he was seeing himself in the future, if he was fortunate to live so long, Gabriel spoke softly, albeit with a touch of reproach.
“Why are you cocooned like an invalid, Papi? It is not yet noon.”
The old man bristled, leant forward and regarded Gabriel keenly. “And what are you doing here?”
There was no sign of his grandfather’s bewilderment now and Gabriel felt himself squirm under such scrutiny. Despite planning his explanation repeatedly on the ride from Bordèu, he was now at a loss on how to begin.
His grandfather was waiting. He increased Gabriel’s discomfort by asking, “Why are you not in Paris studying? It is very foolhardy of you to travel at this time of year.”
The young man chose to dissemble. “I was worried about you. I thought you might be lonely after Nonna’s death.”
Luis Gharsia eyed his grandson sardonically. “Your grandmother has been dead nearly a year and now you are worried about me?”
“Yes.” Even to Gabriel’s own ears he sounded feeble but he was genuine about his concern for his grandfather. He was older than anyone Gabriel knew and, until this visit, his grandfather seemed to have defied his age. A big man, tall and broad, Luis Gharsia had appeared indestructible but now, in the flickering light of the fire, Gabriel could see the frailty of age.
“Pass me my stick, please.”
Gabriel reached for the long, beautifully crafted shepherd’s staff, which had once belonged to Luis’s own grandfather, and moved forward to help.
“I can manage.” Luis struggled until he was upright and then rested both hands on the top of the staff. Gabriel straightened up a fraction, as despite his age, his grandfather was the taller. The old man’s heart swelled with love but his face remained inscrutable. He asked again, “Why are you not in Paris?”
Gabriel met his grandfather’s eyes, a mirror image of his own, and gabbled, “I am postponing my studies.”
“Postponing?” Luis kept his voice level.
“Yes.”
“Why, may I ask?”
The words rushed out. “I am going to New France.”
*
The remains of a simple dinner lay congealing on their plates. Neither of them found they had much appetite. Gabriel, usually so hungry, was overcome with fatigue after the hard ride, broken only with restless nights in cheap, cold accommodation, and Luis’s unease about his grandson’s plans rendered his plate of mutton stew unpalatable. The meat had cooled and lay in a bed of solidifying grease. Gabriel etched a pattern through the fat with his knife. Luis watched him and waited. Feeling his grandfather’s penetrating eyes appraise him, the young man responded defiantly.
“You started to travel when you were my age.”
“I went to England. There is a world of difference between a voyage from Bordèu to Bridgwater and one across the ocean.”
“New France is not so far. If the winds are fair the crossing can be made in a matter of weeks.”
“You mean four months,” corrected his grandfather.
Gabriel stopped fiddling; his eyes gleamed with excitement. “It is rumoured that there is to be an expedition to establish a settlement on the River of Canada.”
“I thought there already was a settlement on the river?” queried Luis.
“Tadoussak