Why Should We Care About Your Character

I met with an agent today. "The Write Stuff" writer's conference gave me the opportunity to pitch my book idea. Since 1997, I've been thinking, writing, and researching the life of one Moravian missionary. Her name is Margarethe Jungmann Bechtel. I gave a synopsis of her story, the life that I am attempting to fictionalize. One question from the agent made me freeze up, a question that I should have been prepared for. "Why should a reader care about your character?" the agent asked. Why indeed. Why should we wonder what it was like to walk through the woods to a new life, why should we wonder what it was like to not have roads, why should we wonder why a woman would lose a husband, a baby, and continue to pore out her life on a mission field. I couldn't answer the question to satisfy the agent. What will make a reader turn the page?