A chilling tale about what happens when we mess with nature.

In 1942, a young entomologist, Thomas, is sent on a secret mission to a remote island to work on biological weapons for the Allied military. The scientists live like prisoners while they look for the perfect carrier for anthrax among the island’s many insects, trying at the same time to keep the local population in the dark. Until one of the islanders becomes ill.

Eight decades later, in 2025, in the same region of Quebec, a heat wave unleashes horrendous swarms of horseflies, while humans fall prey to strange flights of rage and violence. Theodore is living a simple life, working double shifts at the factory and drinking to forget, when a horsefly bite stirs him from his apathy and he impulsively kidnaps from the nursing home his grandfather Émeril, whose dementia has him living in the past during the Grosse Ile biological weapons experiments. The two men end up on that same remote island, digging into the past.

The horsefly, meanwhile, knows a few secrets…

Loosely based on historical fact, Horsefly is a terrifying tale about the ways in which we try to dominate nature, and how nature will, inevitably, wreak retribution upon us.

Mireille Gagné was born in Isle-aux-Grues and lives in Quebec City. Since 2010, she has published books of poetry, short stories, and the remarkable novel Le lièvre d'Amérique (2020), which "possesses a universal wisdom, the kind that is passed down from generation to generation and from which we too often lose our way."

Mireille Gagné's profile page

Pablo Strauss is the translator of twelve works of fiction, several graphic novels, and the screenplay of one feature film, White Dog (2022). He is a three-time finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for translation for The Country Will Bring Us No Peace (Coach House Books, 2020), Synapses (Talonbooks, 2019), and The Longest Year (House of Anansi, 2017). The Dishwasher, his translation of Stéphane Larue’s Le plongeur, won the 2020 Amazon Canada First Novel Award. He has published essays, reviews, and translations in Granta, Geist, The Literary Review of Canada, The Globe and Mail and The Montreal Review of Books. Pablo grew up in Victoria, BC, and has made his home in Quebec City for fifteen years.

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". . . plot lines circle each other, the sense of danger will not be swatted away, and when the bite comes, it stings more than you’d expect.– Amanda Perry, Literary Review of Canada

“Inspired by historical facts, Mireille Gagné’s new novel, Frappabord, at times takes on the appearance of a waking nightmare. Terribly disturbing, but furiously captivating.” – La Presse

“It strikes a perfect balance between past and present, and even includes clever little chapters that present the point of view of the hated insect. The plot is rather clear and can be devoured in one go.” – L’Actualité

“From the first lines, we are fascinated. The ecological threat has been lurking for decades, and what’s more, it is told from the point of view of the species that we sought to transform. Disturbing!” – Journal de Québec

“Mireille Gagné has her own way of giving a voice to the nature that surrounds us, of illustrating its power as well as its richness… And Horsefly does not seem to deviate from this line. With almost an action film feel, the novel promises to remind readers that we must ‘listen to what the living is trying to say: balance is a state to be regained.’” – Le soleil

“What an excellent novel! These three voices speak to us, each in turn. This slightly tense, slightly mysterious atmosphere. And above all this reflection of the relationship that man has with nature, this idea that man thinks he can control everything. Mireille is very gifted at making a very “animal” text, very close to the animal she depicts. I loved it.”– Librairie L’Humeur Vagabonde, Paris

“A great voice of Quebec literature, Mireille Gagné once again demonstrates invention!” – Claudia Larochelle, Dessine-moi un matin, Ici Radio-Canada Première