Maria Chapdelaine

The novel opens on a winter Sunday in Peribonka, a municipality of the French-Canadian province of Québec. A group of people attend Sunday mass at a church situated on the banks of the frozen Peribonka river. After mass, the group gathers outside to talk while a man announces the latest news from the parish. Two fur traders are in town to do business, among them a young man named François Paradis of Mistassini.

Among the group are Samuel Chapdelaine, a farmer, and his daughter Maria, a young woman known for her beauty and demure personality. Maria is returning from a visit to her mother’s family in St. Prime, to her family’s isolated farmhouse in a remote stretch of woods across the Peribonka.

As the Chapdelaines exit the church, they are approached by François Paradis. Though the families are known to one another, it has been seven years since their last encounter. François’s father has recently died. He has sold the family farm and spent years trapping in Northern Québec and Labrador, trading with local Indigenous tribes. Paradis expresses interest in courting Maria. He promises to visit the Chapdelaine farm in a few weeks when his route takes him up the Peribonka. Maria is charmed by François and feels that the coming springtime will bring an as-yet “nameless and unrecognized” (4) happiness.