Louise Penny: The Huron Carol

Louise Penny: The Huron Carol

If you’ve read How The Light Gets In you know it’s set at Christmas and the old song, The Huron Carol, plays a role.

It’s one of my favorite carols.  It’s purely Canadian, written in the 1640s by the Jesuit missionary Jean de Brébeuf. He wrote it in Huron, for the Huron people, and used imagery he felt they would relate to. He also used, for the music, an old French folk song, ‘Une Jeune Pucelle’.

I find it haunting and very, very beautiful.  Like Quebec itself.  I listened to it over and over while thinking about How The Light Gets In.  Here’s the version I listened to by Terry McDade and the McDades.  He sings it in the original Huron, French and English.  I eventually bought the song and now it’s part of my permanent playlist, no matter the season.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv8WgjciDUg

How The Light Gets In is the stunning, ingenious and sinister new novel in Louise Penny’s internationally bestselling Inspector Gamache series. Find out more here.