The Young Parisienne of Coteau Rouge

A new book in 2026 is issued from KDP, La jeune Parisienne de Coteau Rouge.

In 1947, Mireille Tardivel, a twenty-year-old Parisian, emigrated to the Montreal area with her parents. Before committing herself irrevocably to a career as a teacher, she wanted to fulfill a childhood dream: to sing in cabarets. While her father sought employment, she sang in the Coteau-Rouge neighbourhood, which was part of the brand-new city of Jacques-Cartier. It was a particularly poor working-class town, about ten kilometres from Montreal, with no water supply system and where the roads were still mostly dirt. Anarchy reigns in this boomtown, where there are only two police officers.

Eva’s success is instantaneous, but the priests throw a wrench in her plans. Along the way, she meets Alex Letellier, a handsome, well-educated young man from the bourgeoisie in Longueuil who dreams of studying in Paris once he finishes his law studies.

It’s love at first sight for both of them. Michel Pratt offers us a novel based on a powerful love at first sight between two young people separated by their social backgrounds. The author delivers a story that meticulously captures the atmosphere of the era.