The Story of Tonty

This is a short book based on a few episodes of the life of Henri de Tonty, an Italian soldier who helped explore and conquer the French New World alongside his beloved friend, the mercurial-fortuned La Salle. There are some interesting facts, but also a lot is heartbreaking; especially the story of the saintly Jeanne la Ber, a beautiful young woman who longed to be close to God, and even gave up an overwhelming great love because she was trying to please God by giving up what she wanted. That particular character may haunt me for a bit with her dedication to a system that would not even ultimately help her get to God; she thought that repeated denials and penances would make God look upon her with favor, and had no clue that God had already provided to her the price of His favor, in Jesus.

The story was good, but written in episodic style, and with a distance that made it hard to know the characters very well.