This novel paints the portrait of a Lebanese family that has settled in Montreal. The central figure is Dounia, a 75-year-old mother and grandmother. Hers is a story of loss—she first leaves her own village to live in her husband’s hometown, and then is wrenched from her homeland, not once but twice, to live in a strange land whose language and customs are foreign to her.
Dounia can neither read nor write, and she speaks only Arabic. Illiterate yet perceptive, nourished by Lebanese proverbs and pearls of wisdom, she has a unique and captivating voice. She struggles, yes, but manages to achieve fulfilment in her new world: “My home is where my grandchildren are, clinging to my neck, calling me Sitto Dounia … in my language. I want to die where my children and my grandchildren live.”
Abla Farhoud was an actor and playwright before becoming a novelist in 1998 with the publication of this novel, the French title of which was Le bonheur a la queue glissante, awarded the France-Québec – Philippe Rossillon Prize. Other novels followed, including Le Sourire de la petite Juive (published in English as Hutchison Street), Le dernier des Snoreux, and the posthumous book Havre-Saint-Pierre. Abla Farhoud passed away in 2021.

Abla Farhoud is a Montreal writer of Lebanese descent. She was an actress before becoming a playwright, and completed a master's in theatre arts from the University of Quebec in Montreal. In addition to several plays, she has published five novels and has achieved considerable acclaim in French. Hutchison Street is the first of her novels to appear in English. She lives in Montreal.

Abla Farhoud's profile page

Judith Weisz Woodsworth is a translator and former professor of translation studies at Concordia University. She is the recipient of the 2022 Governor General’s literary award for her translation of History of the Jews in Quebec by Pierre Anctil. Her translations include novels by Pierre Nepveu and Abla Farhoud (Hutchison Street, LLP 2018), and she has published widely on translation history and theory. She lives in Montreal.

Judith Weisz Woodsworth's profile page