The Trousseau

by Mary Mageau

The beautiful South Pacific island of Grande Terre (New Caledonia) was first used by the French in 1853 as a penal colony. In order to protect its vast nickel deposits from a British takeover, Emperor Napoleon III announced a settlement program. In 1865 young women from the orphanages of Paris were offered a free passage to Grande Terre. Among the first to sail were Clotilde, Louise and Satine. Barely seventeen years of age, will they fulfill their dreams of finding happiness, love and marriage, far away in an exotic new homeland?

Publication date
  • March 24, 2011