Jo Ann Plante

When Yvon Evelon, an electrician from Quebec and Maryse Melançon from the US, meet through one of Yvon’s relatives, they are reluctantly thrown together for a day and each secretly decide to use each other to fulfill their own dreams. Through Divine intervention and a series of misunderstandings and revelations, the couple falls in love. Yvon's job requires them to move to northern Quebec, where the company he works for is building a huge power plant and creating a town for its workers. Maryse is not happy, but Yvon tells her that with the money he will make, they can buy anything they want. The move does not go smoothly and soon, Maryse feels trapped in this northern wilderness. As the townspeople try to acclimate to this new life, alcoholism, and loneliness creep in and there is concern for everyone’s well-being. After the suicide of Madame Jacquemin, who assisted all of the families to relocte, the townspeople decide they need to build their own church and need a permanent priest. Madame Prévost is delegated to write to the Bishop of Quebec City and ask him to send them a permanent priest. Meanwhile, Father Pierre in Valleyfield, is not happy at his parish. He comes from humble beginnings and loves the outdoors. Valleyfield is a wealthy parish and Father Pierre has a crisis of faith. After nearly leaving the priesthood, Father Pierre is re-assigned to Laverdure, where the townspeople are waiting for him. He is well accepted and starts a new life. Maryse and Yvon reach their breaking point, have an argument, and then the accident, which changes their lives forever. Maryse is told she will never conceive. After the accident, it is a long road to recovery, but Alain’s adopted daughter, Suzette, comes to the rescue. The LaPensees visit them after Maryse returns home from the hospital. Suzette explains that adoption is a good thing, but Maryse is not so sure Yvon will go along with it. After some emotional discussions between Alain and Maryse and Maryse and Yvon, the Evelons decide to adopt a baby. Happiness is short-lived, because now the adoption process begins. Madame Detruire is the investigating agent and she is no pushover. After several stressful interviews and months of waiting, the Evelons are able to adopt, but they must take a child that the agency finds suitable due to their location. They adopt a six month old baby boy, half-white half-First Nation. His name is Penote (Pen-oh-tay). They love him so much. Penote is a good boy. They feel they are so blessed and they agree to adopt more children. They go onto adopt three more children, a boy and two girls, each one different than the others and all of them sent by God. By now, Yvon and Maryse are saving for college for their children and Yvon decides not to adopt any more children. Maryse disagrees. They remember what happened, when they argued long ago, so they agree to adopt one more child. He is a boy. They now have three boys and two girls. When they think their family is complete, they get the surprise of their lives. They find out that Maryse is pregnant. She delivers a healthy baby girl, Alice, in spite of many doctors saying it would never happen. They’ve come full circle from wanting only what they wanted out of life to sharing and living for each other and the rest of their family. Divine intervention is a theme throughout this story. The ups and downs are God’s way of showing them that giving of themselves brings them not only wha