Amalie Chauvenet's World — A MacKinnon’s Rangers Special

Flag of New France

Back in November, we took a look at Lady Anne’s world — Lady Anne being Annie from Surrender. Then craziness of the holidays followed, along with my deadline for Defiant, so we never got to look at the world of Amalie Chauvenet, the heroine from Untamed. As a French heroine and the only French protagonist in the MacKinnon’s Rangers series, she offers us a glimpse of something we rarely see. This was the French and Indian War, after all, but very rarely do we learn anything about the French side of it.

It’s a bit overdue, but welcome to Amalie’s world.

The colonization of New France occurred in a very different way than that of the British colonies. All of the French land belonged to the Crown. The King then gave some of it to the Church, and the rest was let out as signeuries to various people who then, like feudal lords, might rent out bits of it to French settlers, who were required to do certain things, including pay some of their yield in crops, livestock, furs, etc., to their signeur, who might be a woman or the Church.

Contrast that to the somewhat free-for-all system of British colonization, whereby people from all over Europe simply moved onto the frontier, carving their own notches into trees to mark their land. At the time of the French and Indian War, the frontier of the British colonies was populated by Scots, Scots-Irish (Scots from Ulster, Ireland), Dutch, Germans, and, oh, yes, English folk.

You can see how one might draw more people than the other.  And when it came to winning this war, popular was certainly an issue. The British far outnumbered the French.

Trois Rivieres

But what played an even greater role, at least at first, was the various people’s relationship with the Indians. For whatever reason, the French had done a far better job of forming ties with the Indians, while the British tended to view them as subhuman, savages to be held at bay. French settlers intermarried with the Indians at much higher rates than on the British side. When time for war came, the French could count on tens of thousands of Indian allies, while the British, who turned up their noses at the Native population, could turn to very few Indian nations. Even then there were difficulties, such as when Braddock insulted and ignored his Indian scouts and walked with his troops into an ambush that cost him his life and the lives of his men.


From this world comes Amalie Chauvenet, the daughter of a French officer and his half Abenaki wife, who died giving birth to her second child when Amalie was 2 years old. An officer can scarcely raise a child on his own, so Amalie was sent as a toddler to live with the Ursuline nuns in Trois Rivieres.

The Ursuline Convent at Trios Rivieres

The convent where she was raised to the age of 17 stands today. In its day, it would have provided for the education of young women, many of whom would remain with the convent. It would also have offered what limited medical care existed in the area. The only hospitals in New France were run by the Catholic Church.

Amalie chaffed under the strict discipline of the abbey and longed to see more of the world. Most of all, she wanted to be with her father, whom she knew only from infrequent visits and from his letters. When he falls ill, she travels from Trois Rivieres to Fort Carillon down at the southern end of Lac Champlain to help care for him. In his company, she feels truly wanted, truly at home.

A French officer from the 18th century

Her father allows her access to ideas what would have been considered heretical or at least very controversial at the convent, showing regard for her opinions and her concerns. And although her father tells her he must soon send her back to the abbey, he can’t bring himself to send his beloved daughter whose life he has missed out on, away.

But they live in a world at war. The British started the war when a scouting party, led by a young George Washington, killed a wounded French envoy. French anger deepened when the Acadians were expelled from their homes in a tragic incident of ethnic cleansing that led to the deaths of many Acadians. (Many of them traveled to New Orleans, another French possession, where they became known as Cajuns.)

Amalie’s time with her father is cut tragically short when the British attack Fort Carillon, sending 16,000 troops against General Montcalm’s 3,000. Montcalm, in an act of genius, had set soldiers to felling trees, using their branches and sharpened sticks to create an abatis.

General Montcalm

 The French expected to lose that day. They were so terribly outnumbered. But British blundering turned the tide in their favor and handed the British a crushing defeat, as soldiers became hopelessly caught up in the abatis and were shot like sitting ducks.

Battle of Fort Carillon/Fort Ticonderoga, July 1758

 We experience this battle through the eyes of Iain MacKinnon, his brothers and his men toward the end of Surrender. But we get to re-experience it through Amalie’s eyes. Although the French claim an unexpected victory, which Montcalm hails as a miracle of God, erecting a cross on the site of the French entrenchments, Amalie’s father is killed by a Ranger’s lead ball.

While the French celebrate their victory, Amalie mourns the loss of her father, her only family, apart from Abenaki cousins she does not know well.

The French celebrate their unexpected victory at Fort Carillon.

Bereaved and alone, Amalie finds herself the ward of Bourlamaque, the third-highest ranking officer in New France. Staring out of her window onto the ramparts of Fort Carillon and the waters of Lac Champlain, she feels desperately lonely. Bourlamaque wants her to marry one of his officers, Lieutenant Rillieux, but Amalie doesn’t feel more than friendly affection for Rillieux.  Nor does she wish to return to the seclusion and chaffing restraints of the abbey.

Looking south over Lake Champlain through the upstairs windows at Fort Carillon/Ticonderoga.

Amalie cannot know that a man will come to her from the south to change her life forever, bringing not only the woodcraft and strength needed to protect her, but also the passion her heart has craved and a family that will welcome her with open arms.


But to claim this love, she will have to come to peace with the fact that he is one of the dreaded Rangers, possibly even the man who took her father’s life.


Click here for an excerpt from Untamed, which was reissued last month with 25 previously cut pages restored, including the villain’s original death scene.


In honor of sweet Amalie, I’m giving away one signed copy of Untamed to someone who comments below. To be entered for the drawing, tell me what interests you most about the MacKinnon’s Rangers series.



Our next MacKinnon’s Rangers Special will feature a look at the world of Lady Sarah Woodville, the heroine from Defiant. Those of you who haven’t read the series or who have the books in your TBR but haven’t read them yet have 143 days as of today to catch up before Defiant hits bookstore shelves.