It’s 1967 and Michel Larochelle — a Jesuit, an agnostic, and a spy — meets with Hailé Selassie — Emperor of Ethiopia, King of Kings, Lion of Judah — in a suite at Montreal’s Windsor Hotel. Larochelle has been asked to perform a mission dubbed “Operation Rimbaud.” He expects his latest job to be unusual, but learns that what he’s asked to do is closer to astonishing. The Emperor claims that within his kingdom are artifacts of incredible power and significance: the Tablets of the Law, the pair of stone carvings bearing the Ten Commandments, the actual word of God. Selassie wants Larochelle to steal them.

Thus follows a journey into a land on the brink of revolution and set against the worldwide cultural upheaval of the 1960s, challenging the very system embodied by the tablets. Caught in the turmoil, Larochelle’s greatest challenge lies not in the forces intent on claiming the tablets for themselves, but in reconciling the actions he takes and the passions he indulges, while serving a Church and a God he no longer believes in.

Jacques Godbout was born in Montreal and obtained an MA from the University of Montreal. He is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, and scriptwriter, and the author of numerous fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and children’s books. His novel Salut Galarneau! won the 1967 Governor General’s Award for Fiction. He joined the National Film Board of Canada in 1958.

Jacques Godbout's profile page

Patricia Claxton is one of Canada’s most respected French-to-English translators, who has translated more than 20 books and countless articles, essays, short stories and poems. She is perhaps most well known for her connection with Gabrielle Roy. In 1987, Patricia was presented with the Governor General’s Award for her translation of Roy’s posthumous autobiography and in 1999, she was honoured with a second Governor General’s Award for her translation of Gabrielle Roy, a Life, by François Ricard. Her translation of Ronald Lavallée’s Tchipayuk: Or, The Way of the Wolf is available from Talonbooks.

Patricia Claxton's profile page

“More intellectual than the average mystery novel or spy thriller … interesting characters, action, and plot twists expected in their genre … recommended reading.”

Canadian Literature