author
Charles DeGuise
1827–1884
A 19th-century Quebec doctor who also turned to fiction, he wrote atmospheric French-Canadian tales rooted in local history, memory, and legend. His best-known works blend a storyteller’s eye for place with the perspective of someone deeply connected to his community.
2 Audiobooks
Hélika: Memoire d'un vieux maître d'école
by Charles DeGuise
Le Cap au Diable, Légende Canadienne
by Charles DeGuise
About the author
Born in Kamouraska, Quebec, on September 28, 1827, Charles Deguise studied at the college of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, then trained in medicine at Université Laval. He was admitted to practice in 1851 and worked as a physician in Quebec City, then in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pocatière, before returning to Quebec later in life.
Alongside his medical career, he published fiction in French, including Le Cap au Diable and Hélika: mémoire d'un vieux maître d'école. His work is closely tied to Quebec settings and traditions, drawing on local landscape, legend, and recollection in a way that gives his stories a strong sense of place.
Deguise died in 1884. Though not widely known today, he remains part of the tradition of 19th-century French-Canadian writing, especially for readers interested in regional literature and early Quebec storytelling.