Three Came to Ville Marie

Three came to Ville Marie is probably Canadian author Alan Sullivan's best known novel - it won the Governor General's Award for English language fiction in 1941. As well as being a romantic tale it vividly captures the hardship of early settlers' lives in Canada. It tells the story of a wealthy young French couple in the time of Louis XIV Paul and Jacqueline whose engagement is broken up by the arrival of the dashing Jules who sweeps Jacqueline off her feet. Broken-hearted Paul sets out for the wild frontier of New France where the early colonists are embroiled in conflict with the local tribes people. However an indiscretion involving Jacqueline and the King leads to the now married Jules and Jacqueline also heading for Canada and back into Paul's life leading to struggles of an altogether different kind.