Madame Jane

Just after the end of the War of 1812, when this country's frontierwas the Mississippi River, 14-year-old Jane Fisher married themost powerful, most ruthless fur trader in Prairie du Chien, thewestern outpost of the American Fur Company. To Joseph Rolette'semployees and the others who gossiped about her, she was MadameJoseph.Jane and the people who knew her were witnesses to the changesthe fur trade brought to the lives of the settlers and the originalinhabitants. The novel combines evidence from actual 19th centuryletters and court records with speculation about whether Jane FisherRolette, the first woman in Wisconsin Territory to file for a divorce,was truly the independent woman that Hercules Dousman, Joseph'sbusiness partner, rechristened Madame Jane.