Jeanne Chevalier, Fille du Roi: Her Story - Paperback

by Lynne C. Levesque Ed D. (Author)

In June, 1671 Jeanne Marguerite Chevalier left France to find a new life in Quebec, as a Fille du Roi (King's Daughter) sent by Louis XIV to help settle the new colony. Arriving two months later, this remarkable woman went on to marry and then outlive three husbands and survive the births of nine children and the deaths of six of them. Impoverished by her first husband, she worked with the second to establish one of the largest landholdings in the region. Her marriage with the third one brought an almost fairy tale ending to her life. Despite an incredible number of challenges, dangers and sorrows, Jeanne was able to create a life for herself and her children that she could never have imagined if she had stayed in France. When she died at the age of 73 in 1716, she left a long line of descendants, including Rene Levesgue, the 23rd Premier of Quebec, the American writer Jack Kerouac, and the author's father.Written by her eighth great grand-daughter 300 years after her death, Jeanne Chevalier Fille du Roi is an engaging story, full of facts, mysteries and unknowns. It's a story of endings and new beginnings. And it's a story of much courage, stamina, will and many choices. Factually and contextually based, it also provides glimpses into everyday life in 17th and early 18th century Quebec as well as many insights into the creation of the unique Quebecois heritage.

Author Biography

Lynne's life has been a constant process of embarking on new ventures and enjoying many learning experiences. Although half French Canadian by heritage, she was raised in a non-French speaking home. She went off to college with four years of high school French, but decided to start a new language. Her degree in Russian Studies from Mount Holyoke College led her into teaching and then to graduate school at Rutgers University where she earned a Master's degree in Modern European History. Her love for history, particularly women in history, and for the French and Russian languages was, however, put on the back-burner by a 17-year business career (MBA from University of California at Berkeley) at two very large financial institutions. In the middle of that career, a curious chain of events significantly readjusted the course of her life for the next 20 years when she rather serendipitously fell into the study of creativity. After completing her Ed.D at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, she let her passion for the topics of creativity and leadership drive her departure from her banking career toward independent consulting and adjunct teaching positions in local colleges and universities. As part of that consulting practice, Lynne published Breakthrough Creativity: Achieving Top Performance Using the Eight Creative Talents (2001) and The Breakthrough Creativity Profile and Facilitator's Guide (2003, 2012), along with several articles on the topics of creativity and leadership. While still consulting, she spent 5-1/2 years as a senior researcher at Harvard Business School, where she co-authored multiple cases and articles on critical leadership challenges. Continuing to pursue more writing projects, she helped a dear friend write and publish his memoir You Can't Win If You Don't Play (2012). Another set of unexpected occurrences led her to start on a different path while still working as a consultant. For over a decade now, she has been researching the history of her eighth great grandmother. The journey to uncover her ancestor's story has caused Lynne to come almost full circle back to her French Canadian roots and her love of history, although now more enriched by life's twists and turns. And after teaching, writing and talking about creativity for so many years and urging others to unleash their creative talents, she has now begun to access in depth all of her own talents as a dedicated writer of non-fiction.