Description
Late 19th century. Marie-Louise Tremblay is born and raised in Baie-Saint-Paul in a close-knit and loving family, driven by the dream of becoming a teacher. On the other side of the river, in Bellechasse County, Arthur Bernard, son of a very poor shoemaker, knocks on the presbytery door of his village at the age of nine to work there. In Baie-Saint-Paul, one day, during a funeral, he catches a glimpse of a beautiful young girl… Ten years later, faced with the job shortage hitting Quebec, Arthur leaves for the United States and becomes a head chef in a large hotel in Manchester. But nostalgia for his mountains haunts him and he constantly feels the nagging call of the Saint Lawrence. He finds Marie-Louise, also exiled in New Hampshire, and asks her to marry him. They will have four children before returning to their homeland to settle in Sainte-Apolline, in the mountains so dear to Arthur. The small family discovers the strong solidarity of the local villagers, savors the tranquility and beauty of the great outdoors, but also rudely encounters the poverty and tragedies that await farmers far from the big cities. Even in the countryside, they fully suffer the torments of the post-war period. The Echo of the River is the epic story of two French Canadians who, like hundreds of thousands of their peers, crossed the border in search of a better life and who, unable to forget their roots, returned to anchor them in their native land.
