Quotes from book
Maria Chapdelaine

Name: Maria Chapdelaine
Author: Louis Hémon

Louis HémonOriginal title Maria Chapdelaine (French, 1913)

Maria Chapdelaine is a romance novel written in 1913 by the French writer Louis Hémon, who was then residing in Quebec. Aimed at French and Quebec adolescents, the book had been included in school curricula, translated, and has been extensively analyzed and adapted.

“Well he knew she was one of those women who, giving themselves, give wholly, reckoning not the cost; love of body and of soul, strength of arm in the daily task, the unmeasured devotion of a spirit that does not waver. So precious the gift appeared to him that he dared not ask it.”

Louis Hémon book Maria Chapdelaine

Source: Maria Chapdelaine (1913), Ch. 5, p. 76

“Love must give warmth and unfading color to every day of the dullest life.”

Louis Hémon book Maria Chapdelaine

Source: Maria Chapdelaine (1913), Ch. 6, p. 86

“This chill and universal white, the humbleness of the wooden church and the wooden houses scattered along the road, the gloomy forest edging so close that it seemed to threaten, these all spoke of a harsh existence in a stern land.”

Louis Hémon book Maria Chapdelaine

Source: Maria Chapdelaine (1913), Ch. 1, p. 4

“The snow lay deep upon road and fields, for the April sun was powerless to send warmth through the gray clouds, and the heavy spring rains were yet to come.”

Louis Hémon book Maria Chapdelaine

Source: Maria Chapdelaine (1913), Ch. 1, p. 4