The Lady of Fort St. John

Fog, tides and a rough frontier outpost frame the opening of this historical novel, set in Acadia in 1645. Marie de la Tour and her husband Charles discuss the threat posed by their rival, D'Aulnay, whose influence at the French court has weakened Charles's position. Charles hopes to secure help from Nicholas Denys, while Marie prepares to take responsibility for Fort St. John. Their conversation joins political danger to the intimacy of a marriage and the grief of losing their young son.

The fort's vulnerability becomes immediate when three ships appear through the rain and Marie orders the gates barred. Catherwood gives these preparations a physical setting of stone steps, cannon, wet cloaks and hearth fires. Readers interested in colonial rivalries will find a story told through the pressures they place on a household and its garrison. Marie's watchfulness and practical decisions make the defense of the fortress a matter of personal responsibility as well as competing claims to power.