If André Mignier, dit Lagacé, born in about 1649 on Île de Ré off the west coast of France near La Rochelle, is your ancestor — and you read French — Nathalie Lagassé’s first historical novel, Tel était leur destin (Such was their fate), is perfect for you.
In 1664, André Mignier joined the military to save his family’s honour, leaving behind his beloved Marie Jacques because her mother refused to let her marry him.
André sailed to New France the following summer with 20 companies of the Carignan-Salières Regiment. Eventually, he decided to settle there. Meanwhile, Marie had joined a group of Filles du Roy to find André.
And, as they say, the rest is history.
To help write her book and learn more about New France, Ms. Lagassé traced 13 generations of her family history and joined the Société d’histoire des Filles du Roy.
While the book is based on the story of her ancestors and historical facts, conversations and friendships are from her own imagination.
After Ms. Lagassé finished her manuscript, she sent it to Hurtubise, a publisher of many historical novels about Quebec. Four days later, she was notified they were interested in publishing her book.
Now, Ms. Lagassé is working on her second book in the series.
As for André and Marie, they eventually settled with their family in Rivière-Ouelle, east of Quebec City on the south shore of the St. Lawrence. I Googled his name and found this web page in English and French.
These are my ancestors. I have to wonder whether the author has any basis for André “leaving behind his beloved Marie Jacques because her mother refused to let her marry him.” Or whether this is a flight of fancy. I love historical fiction, but some of it really irritates me when too many liberties are taken. I’ll have to see what I can learn about the novel.
I understand what you mean. To make a storyline more vibrant, sometimes the writer — or scriptwriter — takes poetic license. That may be the case here. Still, it will probably be an interesting read. Let me know.