Braving the Dawn: A Novel of New France

by Peggy Joque Williams

Banished from France by King Louis XIV, once royal favorite Sylvienne d'Aubert must make the dangerous ocean crossing with a group of young women eager to secure husbands in the French colony of Quebec as Filles du Roi (Daughters of the King). Sylvienne, however, scarred by an abusive, arranged marriage in France, vows never to wed again. She is determined to one day return to her beloved homeland and to her lover, Etienne.

Clinging to hope that her true love still lives, she must first survive hardships and challenges unique to the Canadian frontier and rebuild her life in a young colony that is at once welcoming and dangerous. She finds friendship in unexpected places and allies among the Native people while developing a resilience she didn't know she possessed.

But the king's reach is long, and Sylvienne's past haunts her at every turn in this saga of new beginnings, survival, and determination of the heart.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

373 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 15, 2026

About the author

Award-winning author Peggy Joque Williams writes historical fiction inspired by her discovery of her 7th- and 8th-great grandmothers who emigrated from France to Canada in the 17th century as Filles du Roi (Daughters of the King). Her first book, Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles, imagines a life for her heroine unlike anything her own ancestors likely experienced in France. It’s sequel, Braving the Dawn: A Novel of New France, however, is rooted in her deep research about her French-Canadian and Ojibwe ancestors of that era. She has also co-writtern two mystery novels under the penname M.J. Williams. A retired elementary school teacher, Peggy is an alum of both Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin. She lives with her family in Madison, Wisconsin. Visit her at www.peggywilliamsauthor.com

Reviews

[Courtney Pityer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will say I wish I had read Courting the Sun before reading this book because I have a deep love for stories that take place at Versailles. But I will say I quickly got over that regret when I started reading this book. I had heard stories about noble women banished from France and sent to the New World to start over but I was never familiar with the tale. Honestly after reading this story I was quite impressed.

I found Sylvienne to be quite an interesting character. She is obviously someone who wants to move on with her life but at the same time she longs for the life she used to have. I will admit I ttuly admired her character development in the novel as she made the best of her situation.

[Katie at Book Ink Reivews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Williams delivers in this realistic historical fiction set in the Canadian wilds of New France. It is a story of how a woman would have moved through that world by refusing to ignore the fact that women would have been mothers, friends, and lovers with secrets and desires of their own.

At times, I found myself frustrated by Sylvienne and then I remembered she's just a 19 year old girl that had far too much trauma and history for a young adult. She grows on you as she matures through the story.

I loved that the natives were treated with respect by the author but not to the point where it felt like a whitewashed history. There is still plenty of frontier hatred, racism, violence, and death. But it is balanced by the hope, love, and friendships that humanity still cultivates.

It is important to note that this novel takes place after William's first novel with the same FMC. If you want more of a back story to garner more sympathy for why Sylvienne struggles with what she does, I would recommend reading that one first. That being said, I have not read the other novel and was not confused. I am comfortable saying that this could be read as a standalone if you wish.

If you love historical fiction on the frontier but are in search of something with a slightly different slant than the American Wild West expansion period, you will adore this novel.

[The Page Ladies Book Club · Rating 4 out of 5]

Banished by a king and sent across the ocean to start over? Say less.

Sylvienne d’Aubert is the kind of heroine I love: wounded but unbroken, cautious yet quietly fierce. After everything she’s endured, her vow to never marry again felt deeply earned, and I was instantly invested in her fight to survive on her own terms. The journey to New France is tense and emotional, and once she arrives in Quebec, the story really shines in its depiction of frontier life, harsh, hopeful, and full of uncertainty.

What stood out most for me was Sylvienne’s resilience. Watching her build a new life, form unexpected friendships, and find strength in a land that is both dangerous and beautiful was incredibly satisfying. The historical detail never felt heavy, and the slow-burn emotions, especially her longing for Etienne and fear of the king’s lingering shadow added real depth to her story.

If you enjoy historical fiction with strong women, survival against the odds, and a touch of romance woven into real history, this is a cozy-but-compelling read worth picking up.

✨️Thank you Love Book Tours and Peggy Joque Williams for sharing Braving the Dawn with me!

[Lori Parrish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't think Id like this book but Im so glad I took a chance on it. I had to look up some words to see how to pronounce them but I quickly figured it out and used the English word for it to.make it easier for me.
This is quite the story! One that had my attention all the way through. This was great! I learned many things that classrooms dont teach you.
Wonderful characters that I liked knowing and a setting that I really loved! I had no idea what was in store for me when I opened this book. I wasn't disappointed in fact I was intrigued. I was kept turning the pages to see what happened next
Some parts of this book made me smile but mostly I was rooting for Silvienne. Her kindness to others is what made me like her. She was a cool character.
The little girl Catherine was interesting and I loved learning about her people.
The sisters of the convent made me smile too. There were some things I didn't like but overall a fantastic read and it kept my interest. I finished it just now.
There are some slow places but that's all good. The author did very well with this story. I enjoyed it very much.
5 stars for a job well done. I didn't want this story to end! Just wow and the cover is gorgeous!!
Thanks for the opportunity to read and review. I was NOT required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing historical fiction book! It pulled me in and held me captive until I read the last word! I need more historical fiction like this! This book picks up where Courting the Sun Ends with Sylvienne on the ship to Canada after being banished from the court of King Louis XIV. She keeps her past a secret as she works to not only survive but also to build a life of her own choosing. But will enemies from her past put her life and future in danger?

Sylvienne is an amazing main character. She is inquisitive, curious, and open to life and to love. I liked the way that she found the courage to not only survive her new circumstances but to build a life filled with friendship and love.

I appreciated that the author included historical details about New France and its people and how it was used to create the story. This is a place and time that i knew little about and it is fascinating.

While this book picks up Sylvienne’s story where Courting the Sun ended it can be read and enjoyed as a standalone. I hope that there is more to Sylvienne’s story, I want to know what comes next.

I highly recommend this book to readers of historical fiction and readers that enjoy books with strong female characters.

Thanks to Love Book Tours for the gifted copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Amanda Felton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you LBT for having me on the review tour and for my gifted copy of this epub.


I have to first say I love the cover of this book. It was so well done and so beautiful and so eye catching !!

The author delivers a beautiful book that is so well written. I found myself taken back in time. I really felt like I was in this book felt like I was alongside everyone. This books takes place in the Canadian wilds of New France and well definitely sounds like a place I would visit and this is story had my attention right away and wow did I learn a lot. Some stuff wasn’t taught to me in school and it’s shocking to learn about it now as an adult.

I really liked Silvienne although at times she kinda frustrated me then I remembered she was only 19 but she was such a cool character!!! I was so rooting for her.

Catherine was also such an amazing character and learning about her and her people was just magic and so so cool. I really can’t get over how good this book was and how the
writing was just so flawless and flowed so nicely!!


Overall this was an amazing read and I can’t wait for more from this author. Still just thinking about this book. So good loved everything. All the characters were top notch and I just couldn’t put it down. A great historical fiction book !!!

[Cait's Reading Nook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sylvienne is banished from France by King Louis XIV and is sent to Quebec. She is being sent to Canada with a group of young women looking to find husbands, known as the Filles du Roi. Sylvienne, on the other hand, is recently widowed and pregnant and determined not to marry again. She seeks to find her way back to France.

She experiences a treacherous voyage to Quebec, and she faces the pressure from society in Canada and France.

The novel is thoroughly researched, presenting Sylvienne’s realities of living in the colonies and the experience for Indigenous people. The novel is well-paced, and readers are engaged with Sylvienne’s story and to see how she will complete her quest to write her own next chapter.

I enjoyed reading about Sylvienne’s resilience and determination in creating a new chapter for herself and her family. Sylvienne finds a new sense of family and friendship during her time in Quebec. She seeks to defy expectations and chart a new heading for life and her happiness.

Thank you to Peggy Joque Williams and Love Books Tours for the gifted copy and the opportunity to be part of the tour! I was provided a copy of this book for free and am leaving an honest review.

[Cam Torrens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite being an outdoorsman who only comes inside for mysteries, thrillers, and suspense, I fell in love with "Courting the Sun," Williams’ debut story of palace intrigue in 17th-century France.

Imagine my surprise to discover her sequel, "Braving the Dawn," is set in colonial Quebec. Sylvienne d’Aubert has been banished from the King’s court and sent abroad to help populate France’s newest colony. Older and wiser after her experience in the palace, Sylvienne cautiously embraces her new life while surrendering any hope that her true love still lives.

Williams sank me so far into character and setting that I smelled the bear grease used to repel insects and scratched my arms when a character refused to slather it on. In Braving the Dawn, she has delivered a sequel that reads as a standalone, dropping in backstory like breadcrumbs, and keeping the reader guessing what lies around the bend of the Saint-Laurent River.

Put this one at the top of your to-be-read pile.

[Christine DeSmet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining, well crafted, a bold and beautiful novel! This superbly researched adventure is led by Sylvienne d’Aubert and other women and men struggling to settle 1400s Canada—known as New France. King Louis XIV instituted a program to send young women such as Sylvienne to New France to help populate the area, which was mostly fur trappers, fishermen, and Native peoples. The suspenseful adventure picks up where the character Sylvienne left us in Courting the Sun/A Novel of Versailles (highly recommended). Secrets follow Sylvienne from France, threatening her new life as she strives to make a home in a land of simple wood buildings, dangerous animals and mosquitoes, trapping and hunting for food in a wilderness, a new social order with its pressures, and romantic entanglements to please the king back home. Sylvienne’s adventuresome plot is a pot that boils all the way to a surprising and satisfying ending. Memorable material, highly recommended.

[A.J. McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peggy Williams is one of the best historical fiction authors I have ever read, easily comparable to Philippa Gregory. With painstaking attention to historical detail, she weaves entrancing stories that blend fiction with fact and makes it impossible to put down her books. I loved her first novel in this series, Courting the Sun, where we first meet Sylvienne as a sixteen-year-old who is swept up in the excitement of life at Versailles. In Braving the Dawn, Sylvienne’s story continues, but this time in New France before it became commonly known as Canada. The author’s exceptional storytelling abilities and her well-developed characters had me heavily invested in this exciting, emotional, and totally engaging novel.

[Marilee Dahlman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Romance, intrigue and adventure await on every page of Braving the Dawn. Great for historical fiction lovers, this painstakingly-researched tale takes place in French Canada during early years of the fur trade. The detailed Quebec setting immerses the reader in New France life. Strong and independent Sylvienne faces scandal, mandatory marriage, and the perilous wilds as she battles for survival and happiness in a strange new place. In this romantic page turner, she’ll find danger, make new friends and enemies, and discover whether true love endures. Enjoy this captivating and memorable read! I was privileged to receive a free ARC for this novel and I’m happy to voluntarily leave this honest review.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of research went into this book about an unfamiliar (to me) bit of history - the filles du roi sent by Louis xiv to help populate New France (now I know why part of Canada is French-speaking.) Sylvienne endures a rough crossing and watches as the young women she crossed with select husbands. She's vowed to remain single, but fails in an interesting way. The descriptions of daily life on this frontier are detailed, and the natives are treated by the author with dignity, if not by all the New Canadians. There are some exciting moments when Sylvienne's past comes back to haunt her. I read the first novel, Courting the Sun, but I believe Williams has seeded enough of the story here that it reads as a standalone. Pick it up and be transported back in time!

[Melina Lobo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Braving the Dawn by Peggy Joque Williams is a historical fiction novel that’s very character driven and quite immersive. The story follows Sylvienne, a resilient character who also has her flaws. Her personal development is very noticeable as the story goes on and she feels very real in the way she’s written, which makes it easy to connect with her journey.
I really loved the 17th century feel of the book. The world building does a great job of transporting you into that time, especially through the atmosphere and how the setting shapes everything happening around the characters.
It’s an emotional read with a slight touch of romance woven in. The focus on Sylvienne’s journey along with the historical backdrop makes the story feel both personal and layered at the same time.

[Lucille Guarino · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was eager to see what happened to Sylvienne after her exile in author Williams’ French historical novel Courting the Sun. Even though Quebec differed vastly from Versailles in the 17th century, the experiences were uniquely dangerous. Wildlife that included bears, hostile tribes, and individuals driven by deceit and betrayal. Braving the Dawn featured very vivid and enigmatic characters that kept me wondering throughout. Who was sincere? Who do I trust? What were their motives? Who does the protagonist Sylvienne truly love? The satisfying conclusion revealed the answers only at the very end. What a thrilling page-turner and a true credit to the writer!

[Ruth Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Braving the Dawn provides a fascinating glimpse into the lives of early French settlers in 17th century Quebec. I honestly couldn’t wait to get back to this book every evening. I’d be hard pressed to say what I enjoyed most about this smartly crafted historical novel: the well-drawn characters (especially the complex narrator, Sylvienne): the twisty, action-filled plot that kept me in suspense right to the end; or the intriguing love quadrangle that had me pivoting on who to root for. With her latest work, Williams has penned a worthy standalone sequel to Courting the Sun. A terrific read!

[Jacquie Herz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even if you’re not into historical fiction, I would highly recommend that you check out Williams’ Braving the Dawn, a well-researched and beautifully written novel. The story is told in the first person through Sylvienne, a young woman from the court of Louis the Fourteenth in Paris who, when we first meet her is crammed on a ship—along with other young French women, all hoping for adventure and a better life—that is sailing across the stormy Atlantic to New France; otherwise known to us now as Canada.

[Tami Wylie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this book at first, but once I got into it, I was pleasantly surprised.
I enjoy a good historical novel and this was definitely that. The book picks up Sylvienne’s story as she is aboard a ship headed to Canada after being banished by the king. I thought she was a fabulous character. She was resilient and strong. She had been through so much, yet she managed to survive in the harsh wilderness and build herself a good life. The story was compelling, interesting and engaging. I really enjoyed this read.

[Gail Olmsted · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written as a standalone as well as a worthy sequel to Courting the Sun, Braving the Dawn is a rich and sweeping saga set on this side of the Atlantic- Quebec! After leaving the King's court in Versailles under less than ideal circumstances, Sylvienne must learn from the past if she is to survive. But the whereabouts of her lover Etienne remain a mystery she needs to solve if her hopes for the future are to come true.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, and Braving the Dawn did not disappoint. Journeying alongside Sylvienne as she travels from France to New France, or Canada, and specifically Quebec as she faces trials, loss, grief, but also new beginnings, new life, and new love was a sweet, emotional, and sometimes funny trip. It was one I enjoyed very much which made putting the book down very difficult. This is definitely a 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ read which I highly recommend!

[K.D. Allbaugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent sequel

Braving the Dawn continues the story of a young woman sent from the French court to the new world.
Peggy Joque Williams does an excellent job of telling the poignant story that is filled with rich, in-depth characters.

[Sheila Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome read

Prepare for a long reading time for this book. Finally reached the end 4 AM. Well worth it. Great read.

[Carrol Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the history and unusual story line

Good fiction but believable. Romance but not smutty. Want to read more . interesting time period for women they had much strength

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful continuation to Sylvienne’s story. I couldn’t put either book down and I am so glad I read Courting The Sun just a few days ago so I did not have to wait to find out what happened to her. I really enjoyed the author’s writing and will continue to look out for her other books.