Through Genevieve?a woman struggling with an idealistic vision of love?a door is opened into the lives of the characters through which Marie-Claire Blais came to the forefront of feminism in Canada. Night after night in a club called The Underground, Genevieve and her friends live out their loves and their tragedies apart from the day-to-day life of the city. Each glance, each embrace, and each ensuing encounter weaves a profound matrix of human isolation, with transcendence found in the healing power of love.

Born in 1939 in Québec, Marie-Claire Blais continues to dominate the literary landscape. Having published her first novel at the age of twenty, she has gone on to publish twenty novels to date in France and Quebec—all of which have been translated into English—as well as five plays and several collections of poetry. All of her writings have met with international acclaim.Talon has published her American Notebooks, a fascinating autobiographical account of the intellectual flowering of a great writer.Winner of the Prix Médicis, the Prix Belgo-Canadien, the Prix France-Québec, and many others, Blais continues to devote herself to work that is proud and exacting. Most recently, she has been invited, as one of the very few foreigners allowed, to join Belgium’s Academy of French Language and Literature.

Marie-Claire Blais' profile page

JANICE KULYK KEEFER is widely admired for her novels, short story collections, poetry and non-fiction, including Thieves, Honey And Ashes, The Green Library (nominated for a Governor General's Award), The Paris-Napoli Express, Constellations, Under Eastern Eyes (also nominated for a Governor General's Award), Reading Mavis Gallant, Travelling Ladies and Res Harrow. She is a recipient of the Marian Engel Award, the Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry, two prizes from the CBC Radio Literary Competition and several National Magazine Awards. Janice Kulyk Keefer lives in Toronto.

Janice Kulyk Keefer's profile page

"A generous book which excites the interest and makes me think . . . a very good book!"  “Jacques Ferron, Au Devoir