Portrait of a Husband with the Ashes of His Wife addresses themes of destiny and the repercussions of our choices. Before she dies, actress Alma Joncas instructs her husband to bury her ashes where she was happiest. He decides that was their garden. But relatives, friends and Alma's colleagues disagree. After they tell him where they think she was happiest, not only is he no longer sure about the garden, he wonders if he truly knew the woman he was married to for twenty-four years.

Pan Bouyoucas came to Canada with his Greek parents in 1963. After studies in architecture, he obtained a BFA in film and theatre at Concordia University and worked a few years as a film critic. Since 1975 he has written in French seven novels, a collection of short stories, a book for children, a dozen radio dramas, and stage plays, many of them translated into several languages. From the Main to Mainstreet (a.k.a. Divided We Stand), which he wrote in English, in 1989 for Montrealâ??s Centaur Theatre, was the best-selling show ever staged at Torontoâ??s Canadian Stage Company. The recipient of many literary awards and nominations in Canada and abroad, Bouyoucas is also a talented translator and the winner of the 2002 Quebec Writers Federation Prize for translation.

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A very profound and touching book.

Aude Jimenez, Radio-Canada International

Bouyoucas constructs a narrative marked by a sensitivity, a subtlety of analysis and an ability to grasp the ambiguities that make us human … And like a magician, he makes the whole thing hum along zestfully.

Suzanne Giguère, Le Devoir