Wildlives Format: Paperback

A powerful, gently surreal tale of a community at the edge of the modern world.

On the fringes of a small town in the Laurentians lives a community of misfits. There's Lila, the landlady of the forest who shoulders a terrible guilt; the young, beautiful and carefree Violette, who bears deep childhood scars, and the boy Jeremy, who whispers his confessions to the frogs and ants in the forest. There's Claire, who writes murder scenes, and Simon, who cares for his brother's son while pining for various women.

Each character has come to this forgiving Eden to escape some private trauma; forced to interact through loneliness and proximity, they learn each othersï?? secrets, with stunning consequences.

Told from the perspective of each character, shifting between the past and the present, Wildlives takes the reader on a fantasy ride of intrigue and character exploration. With its existential mystery, evocation of unspoiled nature and spectacular characters, the novel brings to mind Paul Auster, Henry David Thoreau and Isabelle Allende.

Monique Proulx is one of Quebec’s most popular authors. A novelist, story writer and screenwriter, she has published six works of fiction, including Sex of the Stars, The Invisible Man at the Window, Aurora Montrealis, The Heart Is an Involuntary Muscle, which was a finalist for the 2002 Governor General’s Award for fiction (French language) and a selection for the 2004 CBC Canada Reads competition, and Wildlives. She also won the 1993 Prix Quï??bec-Paris, le Signet d’Or de Plaisir de lire, le Prix des libraires du Quï??bec and le Prix littï??raire Desjardins. She lives in Montreal, Quebec.

David Homel has translated over 30 books, many by Quebec authors. He won the Governor General's Literary Award in translation in 1995 for Why Must a Black Writer Write About Sex? by Dany Laferriï??re; his translation of Laferriï??re's How to Make Love to a Negro was nominated in 1988; and he won the prize in 2001 with fellow translator Fred A. Reed for Fairy Wing. His novels, which include Sonya & Jack, Electrical Storms, and The Speaking Cure have been published in several languages. Homel lives in Montreal, Quebec.

International journalist and award-winning literary translator Fred A. Reed is a respected specialist on politics in the Middle East. He has reported extensively on Middle Eastern affairs for La Presse, CBC Radio-Canada and Le Devoir. He currently resides in Quebec.