Jane de Chantal was at the lowest point in her life. Widowed at age twenty-nine, she faced caring for four small children alone. The hunting accident that had claimed the life of her husband, Christopher, left her with a large estate to administer and the future of her family to worry about. There were other burdens: a controlling father-in-law, social pressure to remarry, and her own paralyzing grief. Jane desperately wanted to flee France altogether to join a convent, but with so many dependents, this was out of the question.