Shadows on the Rock

Shadows on the Rock is a novel by the American writer Willa Cather. The novel covers one year of the lives of Cecile Auclair and her father Euclide, French colonists in Quebec. Like many of Cather’s books, the story is driven by detailed portraits of the characters, rather than a narrative plot. The story opens in 1697 in Quebec. Euclide Auclair stands on Cap Diamant overlooking the river, watching as the last ship of the season returns to France. He comes down to dinner with his daughter, Cecile. After dinner, Cecile feeds Blinker, a partially disabled man who does some of the heavy chores. Euclide Auclair came to the Quebec colony eight years prior, in the service of Count de Frontenac, as physician and apothecary. His wife has died after an illness, and the duties of housekeeping have devolved upon his daughter Cecile.