Barskins

In the late seventeenth century, two penniless young Frenchmen, René Sel and Charles Duquet, arrive in Canada, then known as New France. Bound to a feudal lord for three years in exchange for land, they become woodcutters - barkskins. Sel, suffering extraordinary hardship in the forest he is charged with clearing, is forced to marry a Mi'kmaw woman. Duquet, crafty and ruthless, runs away, becomes a fur trader, then sets up a timber business.
Proulx tells the stories of their descendants over three hundred years - their travels across North America, to Europe, China and New Zealand under stunningly brutal conditions - the revenge of rivals, accidents, pestilence, Indian attacks and cultural annihilation.