Philippe-Ignace-François Aubert de Gaspé, the author of the first Canadian novel written in French, was the eldest son of Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé, whose own novel, Les Anciens Canadiens (1863), was published more than twenty-five years later. To distinguish him from his more famous father he is usually referred to as Aubert de Gaspé fils. His father's family were hereditary seigneurs of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, Quebec. His mother, Suzanne Allison Aubert de Gaspé, was the daughter of a British officer and one of the well-to-do Baby family, so on both sides of his family the young Aubert de Gaspé was connected to prominent families of what was then Lower Canada. What should have been a privileged childhood in his native Quebec City was interrupted in 1822 by his father's disgrace and removal from office for defaulting on his accounts as sheriff of the city. The...