Wanda Maureen Miller

The satisfying story of Madeleine, one of the filles a la casquette and a forgotten French policy to colonize the wilderness known as Louisiana.

When the master of the de Mandeville chateau began to take an inappropriate interest in his wife's ladies' maid, 17-year-old Madeleine Boucher finds herself enrolled in the French government's program to provide suitable females as potential brides for their pioneering countrymen in their Louisiana colony. Madeleine is accepting of this fate; it is a chance for her to have a future in a new world far from the shadow of poverty and her early life as the daughter of a serf on the de Mandeville estate, a chance to be her own person and no one's servant ever again. Along with 59 other filles a la casquette, she's provided with a trunk (casquette) of household basics with which to start her married life with whomever she chooses as her husband. The girls with their chaperones, Ursuline nuns traveling to their convent in New Orleans, board Les Belles Soeurs, the ship which is to be their home for the next 3 – 4 months as they make the long journey by sea from France to the Port of New Orleans. They endure cold, heat, storms, sickness, diminishing food supplies, and the constant threat of pirates along the way.

Through no fault of her own, the lovely Madeleine is mistakenly identified on the ship's roster as a member of the de Mandeville family rather than from the de Mandeville chateau. However, she doesn't correct the error, hoping to prevent others from treating her like a mere servant. But rather than acting like a fragile flower from an aristocratic family, Madeleine pitches in to pull her own weight and help out any way possible, all the while keeping a cool head under the considerable stress of the ocean crossing. She catches the eye of the ship's captain, Jean Paul Beauchamp, and although there is an immediate and mutual attraction between the two, they manage to maintain the utmost decorum and respect for each other. On their last night aboard ship before debarking for the final journey upriver to New Orleans, Captain Beauchamp admits to Madeleine that despite his deep regard, his life will always be the sea.

When the girls finally arrive safe and sound in New Orleans, they are dismayed by the rough, crude conditions. Still, the warm and friendly welcome from the colonists lifts their spirits and soothes their disillusionment. They are soon showered with marriage proposals from men of all manner of background, circumstance, and situation. Madeleine is attracted to a young French army lieutenant, Jacques Bouligny, the younger son of an aristocratic family back in France. Jacques, in turn, is just as enamored of her but is away from New Orleans more than not quelling the rising turmoil among the Indian tribes inhabiting the Louisiana territory.

One by one, all the casquette girls except Madeleine make their selection of a husband and leave to start their new lives. She chooses to stay with the Ursuline sisters, assisting in their hospital and school for girls as she waits for Jacques to declare himself or Captain Beauchamp to return, having changed his mind.

I thoroughly enjoyed this new story of Madeleine and the filles a la casquette, set in the early 1700s in the wilds of southern Louisiana. It was an interesting and adventurous historical fiction novel laced with an irresistible romance. The heroine brought to mind Barbara Taylor Bradford's Emma Harte from A Woman of Substance or Margaret Mitchell's Scarlett O'Hara (without the negative personality traits.) I read with anticipation of the resolution of Madeleine's romantic relationships. Would things work out for her and Jacques, or would Jean Paul come back into the picture? I thought the plotline involving the Natchez exciting yet troubling. The tension of this situation was always hovering in the background. The same can be said regarding the reality of slavery. The characters of Moses, Rima, Lying Boy, Laff, and Lame Doe were some of my favorites, and I enjoyed their presence in the story. I hope to see more of them in the next book.

As the story covers almost 25 years, there is plenty of action during that time frame; there was never a dull moment in the book. This one kept me up reading way past a decent bedtime.

I recommend MADELEINE: LAST FRENCH CASQUETTE BRIDE IN NEW ORLEANS to readers that enjoy historical fiction with a romantic storyline or those that would like a story about a forgotten French policy (filles a la casquette) in the history of Louisiana and New Orleans. This story contains details related to sexual relations and is better suited to a more mature audience.… (más)

In "Madeleine Last French Casquette Bride in New Orleans" Wanda Maureen Miller has brought to life a little known to me part of Louisiana history. Madeline is a Casquette bride, one of many girls sent to the new colony in New Orleans to be a bride to the men, who started the colony. It was a method employed by the French crown to populate their colonies, as "les filles du roi" were in my country, Canada. Since the 17 year old Madeleine Boucher, a servant, was becoming too much of a temptation to her husband, Countess de Mandeville decides to send Madeleine with a group of nuns to New Orleans to become one of the brides. When a clerk mistakes Madeleine's surname for that of her former mistress, Madeleine sees an opportunity to rise from her station in life as the daughter of a poor farm serf to that of a higher class.
The author brings to vivid life all the hardships these women endured, not only the physical hardships of the journey but the mental anguish they suffered, not knowing what sort of husband and life they would have in their new home. It makes you appreciate, what our ancestors went through on their passage to the New World. Through this journey Madeleine grows as a person, gaining new skills that she could use to better her life. I particularly liked their confrontation with the pirates, since the gunner on Madeleine's ship was Duvall, "a one-time murderer who had run to the sea to escape the justice awaiting awaiting satisfaction for his crimes". Was this character based on a real life person? After Madeleine finally arrives, she receives many offers of marriage. But unlike the other ladies on the ship, she bides her time, waiting for the right person. She had fallen in love with the captain of the ship Beauchamp. However, he was an impossible choice. Finally she marries the handsome soldier Captain Jacques Bouligny, a gambler and womanizer.
Madeleine's story is an entertaining one. My only criticism is that the characters and their stories could have been developed more, especially that of Captain Beauchamp. The author does cover lots of years in her novel and some parts seem rushed. It will be interesting to see what develops in the next book, Solange, the daughter of Madeleine and her husband, Jacques Bouligny.
If you liked Aimie K. Runyan's series, Daughters of New France, and Suzanne Desrochers'"Bride of New France" you will enjoy this one.… (más)

Last Trip Home is an exploration of Miller’s own life through her character Grace Marie. It is a stark, honest look at what it was like growing up in a sharecropper shack in Arkansas with an overbearing, lecherous father. It tells the story of a girl growing up loving books, reading, and education in an environment where none of that is valued. I really appreciated the stark honesty of this memoir. Everything is bared: Grace’s awkwardness at going through puberty in a place where there is no privacy, her loves, her fears, her desires.

There are some truly terrible stories that Miller retells, but it seems like she is in a place where she has been able to process everything. I was struck by the compassion with which Miller looks upon her family; she doesn’t agree with them or their lifestyle, but she understands them and doesn’t try to change them. With that, however, comes the recognition that because of those differences, she needs to have a strong sense of independence and personal fortitude to be true to herself while also being a good family member. I have had similar experiences, growing up in a small town, being one of the first of my family to be educated, and this really struck a chord with me.

This was an engaging read that contains a lot of elements that anyone can relate to and mixes dark subject matter along with a wry sense of humor, making it a bit easier to take in. I was rooting for Grace Marie every step of the way and delighted in her successes. It’s a masterfully told memoir, and one that I will be recommending to friends and family.

Also posted on Purple People Readers.… (más)