A Woman of Valour : The Biography of Marie-Louise Bouchard Labelle (Paperback)

The biography of Marie-Louise Bouchard Labelle tells of a young Canadian woman from a humble background at the turn of the twentieth century. She discovers love with the priest of her village, a man thirty-three years her elder. After three children and fifteen years of a happy life together, her spouse returns to the priesthood, just before the Great Depression. Trépanier narrates this brave woman's struggle to raise their children alone as a "widow," and raises questions about the mandatory celibacy of Catholic priests and the status of women in the Catholic Church.