In the late seventeenth century two penniless young Frenchmen, René Sel and Charles Duquet, arrive in New France. Bound to a feudal lord, a "seigneur," for three years in exchange for land, they become wood-cutters -- barkskins. René suffers extraordinary hardship, oppressed by the forest he is charged with clearing. He is forced to marry a Mi'kmaw woman and their descendants live trapped between two inimical cultures. But Duquet, crafty and ruthless,...

Publisher description: In the rugged 17th century Canadian wilderness, Father Laforgue, a young and idealistic Jesuit priest, is assigned to go up river into the wilderness on a perilous journey to convert the Huron Indians. His Algonquin Indian guides nickname him "Black Robe." His young aide and translator, Daniel, falls in love with Annuka, the beautiful daughter of the Algonquin chief. Torn between his own desires and ideals of the priesthood,...