First published in Quebec in 1981, Beauchemin’s highly acclaimed comic masterpiece of storytelling follows in the tradition of the great novels of the 19th century.

When Florent Boissonneault comes to the aid of an accident victim, his life changes forever. One onlooker, the powerful and sinister Egon Ratablavasky, comes to haunt his ambitions and dreams, lurking behind his every opportunity, success, and failure. Finally, obsessed by a need to free himself, Florent discovers how to fight back.

YVES BEAUCHEMIN is a mordant social satirist and one of the most pre-eminent Québecois writers of his generation. His novels include Charles the Bold, The Waitress of the Café Cherrier, and The Alley Cat, which was the bestselling French-Canadian novel of all time. He is also a children’s book writer and a member of the Académie des lettres du Québec. In 2011, he was awarded the Ludger-Duvernay Prize, which recognizes the outstanding contribution and societal influence of Quebec writers.

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Kenneth Radu is a seasoned, award-winning writer of novels, short stories, non-fiction, and poetry. His first novel, Distant Relations, received the Quebec Writers' Federation Award for Best English-language Fiction. A collection of stories, A Private Performance, was also honoured with the award. A previous collection, The Cost of Living, was nominated for the Governor General's Award. His most recent work includes two collections of stories, Sex in Russia, and Earthbound, both published by DC Books, as well as the novel Butterfly in Amber.

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