Members of the Court | Saint-Cyr staff | Louise and her entourage | Charlotte and her entourage | Hortense and her entourage | Isabeau and her entourage | Éléonore and her entourage | Henriette and her entourage | Gertrude and her entourage | Olympe and her entourage | Adélaïde and her entourage | Jeanne and her entourage | Victoire and her entourage | Gabrielle and her entourage | Diane and her entourage
The characters who appear in Book 8, Gertrude et le Nouveau Mondenote .
Gertrude de Crémainville
A proud and haughty but deeply loyal girl.
- Ambiguously Bi: Her relationship with Anne is full of
Les Yay, but her crush on Nayati is as genuine as they come and they appear to be endgame. - Awful Wedded Life: With Léon, who is an abusive Jerk with a Heart of Jerk.
- Big Sister Instinct: The main motivator of her relationship with Anne, though possibly not the only one.
- Breakfast Club: Forms this with Margot when they realize that all the other women in their church look down on them due to Margot's race and Gertrude's good-for-nothing husband and past.
- Break the Haughty: Her storyline is possibly the darkest of the entire series.
- Call to Agriculture: She comes to truly love working the earth, and even after Léon's death, chooses to go back to his farm with Nayati to help her.
- Character Development: Over her trials, she goes from a haughty Alpha Bitch to a selfless woman able to develop empathy for everyone, even a cow.
- Family Honor: The Crémainvilles may be broke, but they are related to princes of the Blood; this is the source of Gertrude's Pride.
- Important Haircut: Her beautiful black hair is cut short when she is publicly flogged before being sent to prison. Six months later she still mourns for it.
- Light Feminine Dark Feminine: The Dark Feminine to Anne’s Light Feminine.
- "Not So Different" Remark: A big part of her character development rests in her ability to relate to Cléonice and Margot, women of much humbler backgrounds.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: How she is depicted on the cover of her book.
- Riches to Rags: Starts as a noble student of the Royal House, and ends up the widow of a homesteader in Québec. Though her life gets easier after his death thanks to her friends in high places, she never regains her former wealth or status.
- Statuesque Stunner: She is the tallest of the actresses of Esther, even more so than Henriette who is said to be unfemininely tall.
Anne de Castillon
A sweet, soft-spoken, shy orphan.
- Ambiguously Bi: Her relationship with Gertrude is full of Les Yay, but she falls hard for her fiancé Antonin when she meets him.
- Deuteragonist: While the book is named after Gertrude, whose story takes up most of the pages, Anne has point of view chapters of her own.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Possibly the sweetest and most innocent of the Doves, with golden blond hair to boot.
- Light Feminine Dark Feminine: The Light Feminine to Gertrude’s Dark.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Falls hard for Antonin as soon as she meets him.
- Shrinking Violet: Due to a mixture of natural shyness and a very restrictive education.
Marguerite de Caylus
Cléonice Masperon
A bold inmate at Les Madelonnettes prison.
- Cant Get Away With Nothing: She is in prison because she was a cabaret maid who refused to sleep with the patrons to make her employer richer, so he accused her of stealing from him.
- Married at Sea: Has a beautiful wedding on the ship that takes her and the other prisoners to Québec.
- Massive Numbered Siblings: She is one of thirteen sisters, who all had to fend for themselves somehow. She is not the only one in prison as a result; her older sister Camille was driven into prostitution and sent to Canada several years prior to the story.
- Taking a Third Option: Stay in prison in France or marry a complete stranger upon arriving in Québec? Not if she marries a member of the ship crew first!
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Her unusual name comes from her parents wanting to call her either Cléonte or Bérénice.
Héloïse Dunoyer, née de Lestrange
Eugène Dunoyer
Léon Gardinier
A retired soldier and new homesteader in New France.
- The Alcoholic
- Asshole Victim: He is killed while hunting for beaver fur without a license as a get-rich-fast scheme.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Hates the idea of Nayati being anywhere near Gertrude.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: After a first movement of repulsion, Gertrude finds out that she can handle living with him, as he teaches her new things and is hopeful about their future in the New World. That is, until winter comes and he leaves her to starve to death in a snowbound hut and starts abusing her after Nayati comes to her aid.
- Would Hit a Girl: After Gertrude is saved from starvation by Nayati, he starts beating her.
Magena / Margot
A member of the Huron Clan of the Bear, wed to a French colonist.
- Breakfast Club: Forms this with Gertrude when they realize that all the other women in their church look down on them due to Margot's race and Gertrude's good-for-nothing husband and past.
- The Chief's Daughter: The daughter of a Huron chief.
- Converting for Love: Subverted. She was baptized as Christian so that her Arranged Marriage could happen, but she remains attached to her religion and would rather have kept it.
- Imperiled in Pregnancy: The French and Hurons go to war against the Iroquois during her pregnancy, and she has to take refuge in the minor colonial fort with all the other women and children.
- Meaningful Rename: Averted. Upon her semi-forced baptism, she was just given the European name that sounded the most like her birth name.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: For all his flaws and her difficulties in her new life, she seems to genuinely respect and care for her husband.
Nayati
Magena's brother, a Huron warrior.
- Big Damn Heroes: Saves Gertrude from death by starvation and exposure when he brings her food during a snowstorm and teaches her how to handle a Canadian winter.
- Meaningful Name: ‘’Nayati’’ means ‘’fighter’’.
- Something Only They Would Say: The only character in the book to call Margot by her birth name, which leads Gertrude to trusting him when he tells her that "Magena" sent him.
- Parental Substitute: Margot tells Gertrude that in their clan, sons are reared by the men of the mother's family. He promises her to be this when she gives birth to a boy.
- The Stoic: Despite being fluent in French, he's not a very talkative guy. He is the love interest with the most subtle resolution in the series.
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome
- Warrior Prince: The son of a Huron chief, and an able warrior.
Jean-Louis
An officer of the French regiment in Canada and Margot's husband.
- The Gambling Addict: Implied. While his wife is at mass, he is at the tavern dicing.
- Mighty Whitey: Forged the French-Huron alliance and his Arranged Marriage to Margot when his colonial regiment rescued her village from attacking Iroquois.
- Papa Wolf: Shows signs that he'll be this, as his protectiveness of Margot extends to their unborn child.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: He appears to be very much in love with his wife.
Augustin de Trimont
A young courtier with connections in Canada.
- Everyone Is Related: A distant cousin to Eugène.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Madame de Caylus sets him up with Anne specifically because she wants to go to Québec, and he’s been appointed there; he falls for her immediately and proposes barely a few days later.
- Satellite Love Interest: Sweet and handsome and attentive and only present in the narrative as a means to get Anne over the Atlantic.
