Where The River Narrows

From the acclaimed and multi award-winning chef J-C Poirier of St. Lawrence restaurant comes a stunning, lyrical cookbook with over 125 recipes that celebrate the classic dishes of Québec and France. WHERE THE RIVER NARROWS is a loving homage to Chef Jean-Christophe (J-C) Poirier’s home province, Québec—the phrase is a direct translation of the Algonquin word “kebec,” describing the area around Québec City where the St. Lawrence River is hemmed in by towering cliffs. Québec is where J-C’s love for the nostalgic beauty of French cooking began. In his debut cookbook, he shares recipes from both cultures, Québécois and French, and the intersections between them—whether from the menu of his Michelin-starred Vancouver restaurant, St. Lawrence, or his kitchen at home. With over 125 beautifully photographed recipes, J-C provides a full look at French and Québécois cooking with classic dishes like Tourtière, Pot-au-Feu, Tarte au Sucre, and Tarte Tatin, along with bistro favourites like Steak with Peppercorn Cream Sauce and Chocolate Mousse that your friends and family are sure to love. For those who are devoted fans of St. Lawrence, where J-C showcases time-honoured traditions in a transportive dining experience, readers will find his signature dishes, like the famous Pâté en Croûte, Coquilles St-Jacques à la Parisienne, and Tarte au Citron Flambée au Pastis. Readers seeking reliable recipes for the basics and mother sauces of French cuisine can earmark the Chef ’s Essentials chapter as their go-to resource. And to finish it off, a Menus section with suggestions for pairing dishes, selecting wine, and other tips and tricks, will help you pull off the feast of your dreams. Interspersed throughout are essays where J-C shares the full breadth of his culinary experience, his life as a chef and restaurateur, and how he cooks for his family at the end of a long day. With his magnetic yet dry sense of humour, you’ll hear J-C’s voice as you recreate his most beloved dishes. Whether you’re an adventurous home cook or an armchair traveller, this enchanting book is just as much a pleasure to read as it is to cook from.

From the acclaimed and multi award-winning chef J-C Poirier of St. Lawrence restaurant comes a stunning, lyrical cookbook with over 125 recipes that celebrate the classic dishes of Québec and France. WHERE THE RIVER NARROWS is a loving homage to Chef Jean-Christophe (J-C) Poirier’s home province, Québec—the phrase is a direct translation of the Algonquin word “kebec,” describing the area around Québec City where the St. Lawrence River is hemmed in by towering cliffs. Québec is where J-C’s love for the nostalgic beauty of French cooking began. In his debut cookbook, he shares recipes from both cultures, Québécois and French, and the intersections between them—whether from the menu of his Michelin-starred Vancouver restaurant, St. Lawrence, or his kitchen at home. With over 125 beautifully photographed recipes, J-C provides a full look at French and Québécois cooking with classic dishes like Tourtière, Pot-au-Feu, Tarte au Sucre, and Tarte Tatin, along with bistro favourites like Steak with Peppercorn Cream Sauce and Chocolate Mousse that your friends and family are sure to love. For those who are devoted fans of St. Lawrence, where J-C showcases time-honoured traditions in a transportive dining experience, readers will find his signature dishes, like the famous Pâté en Croûte, Coquilles St-Jacques à la Parisienne, and Tarte au Citron Flambée au Pastis. Readers seeking reliable recipes for the basics and mother sauces of French cuisine can earmark the Chef ’s Essentials chapter as their go-to resource. And to finish it off, a Menus section with suggestions for pairing dishes, selecting wine, and other tips and tricks, will help you pull off the feast of your dreams. Interspersed throughout are essays where J-C shares the full breadth of his culinary experience, his life as a chef and restaurateur, and how he cooks for his family at the end of a long day. With his magnetic yet dry sense of humour, you’ll hear J-C’s voice as you recreate his most beloved dishes. Whether you’re an adventurous home cook or an armchair traveller, this enchanting book is just as much a pleasure to read as it is to cook from.

For many Loyalists during the American War for Independence, the perilous journey to Canada is just the beginning of a long and arduous struggle to find a new home and a new life amid the upheavals of war and separation, death and privation. For Elisabeth Van Alen, it also means finding new strength and the will to survive in a new country. Married to Gerrit, an educated Mohawk warrior, she is filled with fears when he must go away shortly before the American rebels force her and her family out of their ancestral home. Thankfully Gerrit finds her fleeing through the forest with their Mohawk friends and helps her reach Kanien’kehá:ka, the Mohawk territory in Quebec. Coming to a log cabin tucked away on a wooded island in Montreal is a great shock for Elisabeth after the life she had known in the comfortable house where she had been born. Undaunted, she takes on the tasks of pioneer women and keeps her family together while waiting anxiously to hear from Gerrit who has returned to complete his assigned task. Against his will, Gerrit is recruited by the British Army for a special mission. Elisabeth suffers losses and joys, upheavals and peacefulness and her love grows for her adopted country where being married to a Mohawk is regarded as normal.

For many Loyalists during the American War for Independence, the perilous journey to Canada is just the beginning of a long and arduous struggle to find a new home and a new life amid the upheavals of war and separation, death and privation. For Elisabeth Van Alen, it also means finding new strength and the will to survive in a new country. Married to Gerrit, an educated Mohawk warrior, she is filled with fears when he must go away shortly before the American rebels force her and her family out of their ancestral home. Thankfully Gerrit finds her fleeing through the forest with their Mohawk friends and helps her reach Kanien'kehá ka, the Mohawk territory in Quebec. Coming to a log cabin tucked away on a wooded island in Montreal is a great shock for Elisabeth after the life she had known in the comfortable house where she had been born. Undaunted, she takes on the tasks of pioneer women and keeps her family together while waiting anxiously to hear from Gerrit who has returned to complete his assigned task. Against his will, Gerrit is recruited by the British Army for a special mission. Elisabeth suffers losses and joys, upheavals and peacefulness and her love grows for her adopted country where being married to a Mohawk is regarded as normal.

The story of Where the River Narrows begins with the mysterious figureof Antonio Tremblay, the mythical coureur de bois who traps in the forestssurrounding Chicoutimi, Québec. Of mixed blood himself, he takes two wives: thesaintly Marie-Ange, who gives him two daughters, and Marie Kapesh, hisclandestine "wood wife", whose children remain hidden in the forest.Marie-Ange's younger daughter, the beautiful Marie-Reine, becomes thematriarch of a boisterous, tightly knit family, whose children, grand-children,and great-grandchildren must chart their own way in a changing Québec. Where the River Narrows sweeps effortlessly across the centuries, fromthe French royal court to the founding of Québec City in 1608, from the Spanishflu pandemic of 1918 to the FLQ Crisis. Against this rich panorama, the dailylives of the Tremblays unfold. Marie-Reine's children grow up, marry, havetheir own children who, in turn, spread beyond Québec to a wider world. It isLucie, a child of the -60s facing a troubled marriage, who begins the longjourney back, bringing to life a history she had glimpsed only in schoolbooksand discovering a past peopled by saints and sinners, weighed down by historyand religion. From the beginning, Lucie senses that there are long-buriedsecrets shaping the fortunes of the Tremblays, secrets that draw her into thedark forests of her ancestors. This passionate novel resonates with joie de vivre as the Tremblaysfight and reconcile, mourn and worship, hate and love one another. Ranging fromthe wilderness of eighteenth-century New France to the -60s faux farmhouses ofsuburban Sainte-Foy, Where the River Narrows echoes the many voices andvisions that have shaped a unique part of Canada.