The Stamp of Destiny

This delightful love story begins in France at the end of the First World War, moves to a French colonial island in the South Pacific, then to war-torn Indochina, and ends back in France. It relates the extraordinary and heart touching adventures in beautifully described exotic settings of a young couple forced to part because of social barriers and prejudice. Defying all challenges, their courage and steadfast devotion keeps their love alive as they go their separate ways to experience different aspects of life in France and the Orient during the mid-1950s. However, nothing can fill the void of their separation except the hand of fate, but their love for one another, symbolized by the Chinese character on the cover, never dies.


Hélène d’Arche Smock has dual French and American citizenship, her mother being French and her father American of French Canadian descent. Born in the South Pacific French colony of New Caledonia, she came to America with her family in 1946. She attended the University of Miami and George Mason University. Accompanying her husband on his diplomatic assignments, she has lived in Saigon, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, and has traveled in France and elsewhere in Europe. She and her husband have two children, three grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Now residing in Florida, her bobbies include writing, reading, gardening, gourmet cooking and sewing.