The People of the First Light
()
About this ebook
Two families, the Michauds and the Gauvins, along with their Abenaki guides, leave Canada and settle in the English village of Compton, Maine. The Gauvins, eager to become more socially accepted, convert from Catholicism to Protestantism and begin to look down on the Michauds as well as the Abenakis who have been converted to Catholicism by Jesuit priests. When some of the rowdy settlers burn down the Gauvins home, the Gauvins go to live with the Abenakis. (Abenaki means "the people of the first light" or "the people first to see the sun rise.") The parents return to Canada, whereas their son Francois and his young wife, Maria-Claire Gauvin, continue to live with the Indians. Francois, a coureur de bois, becomes involved in a reckless life of drinking and carousing, causing Maria and the Abenakis to lose their respect for him. Agawam, a widow and spiritual leader of the tribe, teaches Maria the healing uses of herbs. He also saves the life of Francois when Francois is ill with pneumonia. Maria takes her young daughter Jennie to visit her relatives in Compton (a fictional name). Just before Maria dies in childbirth, she gives Jennie to her friend Wiyanna. When Jennie becomes a lovely young woman, her English relatives, with whom she spends the winters, want her to stay with them and plan for her to marry the widowed minister, Gideon Hughes, whom Jennie detests. Jennie is in love with Cognawescu, the chief's son, and wants to return to her Indian family. Nevertheless, making her feel unaccepted by her own people and fearing she will end up marrying an Indian, the Gauvins tell Jennie that she needs to accept the offer of the arrogant Gideon Hughes, who insists that she marry him in order for her to become a respectable White woman and that she must no longer visit her "heathen" Abenaki friends. Read the story to find out what happens to Jennie and to learn a lot about the relations between the Abenakis, the French, and the English during the 1700s.
Read more from Betty Raymond Gubler
God's "Good Morning": The Spiritual Journey of a Mother Raising a Special Needs Child Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAdam Learns to Whistle: A Collection of Thirty Short Stories for Children and Grown-Ups Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStars of Big Sky Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLet Them Eat Grass: A Saga of the Sioux Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The People of the First Light
Related ebooks
The Element Encyclopedia of Native Americans: An A to Z of Tribes, Culture, and History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPortrait of Mass Murder: In the Name of Expansionism Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Whaler and the Girl in the Deadfall Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTravelling to the Edge of the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan: A Grammar of Their Language, and Personal and Family History of the Author Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Legends Of The Iroquois, Told By The Cornplanter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Legends of the Iroquois Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnsettled: Lord Selkirk’s Scottish Colonists and the Battle for Canada’s West, 1813–1816 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLegends of The Kaw: The Folk-Lore of the Indians of the Kansas River Valley Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlgonquin Legends Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Feast of the Virgins and Other Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThree Years on the Plains: Observations of Indians, 1867-1870 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRobert Burns, A Very Peculiar History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTen years of missionary work among the Indians at Skokomish, Washington Territory, 1874-1884 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom the Deep Woods to Civilization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Darkwater: Voices From Within the Veil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLEGENDS of the IROQUOIS - 24 Native American Legends and Stories: 24 American Indian Myths and Legends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGaslit Horror: Stories by Robert W. Chambers, Lafcadio Hearn, Bernard Capes and Others Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLegends Along The Ossipee: Stories In The Dawnland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSing with the Heart of a Bear: Fusions of Native and American Poetry, 1890-1999 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tell It to the World: an indigenous memoir Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJamestown: The Novel: The story of America's beginnings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBrendan’s Return Voyage: A New American Dream: Indigenous, Post-Colonial, and Celtic Theology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBanneker: The Afro-American Astronomer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrails Through Western Woods Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Native American & Aboriginal Fiction For You
Don't Fear the Reaper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Only Good Indians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Tender Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Break Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two Old Women, [Anniversary Edition]: An Alaska Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Outside Circle: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Little Indians: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bad Cree Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Sun Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Golden Notebook: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When Two Feathers Fell From The Sky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Moon of the Crusted Snow: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Island of the Blue Dolphins: The Complete Reader's Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Better the Blood: A Hana Westerman Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5My Heart Is a Chainsaw Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Calm and Normal Heart: Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Attack of the 50 Foot Indian Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Indian Horse: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crow Mary: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legends & Myths of Hawaii Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll the Quiet Places: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBuffalo Is the New Buffalo Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Indian Killer: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Alone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fevered Star Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mutant Message Down Under Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Musician Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Empire of Wild: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Laughing Boy: A Navajo Love Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The People of the First Light
0 ratings0 reviews