This is the story of a man who would rather remain anonymous. He has his reasons. The boutique where used to work has been condemned, and so has the house where he rented a room, torn down to make way for a luxury hotel. His demanding boss vows her love for him; he feels compelled to perform. Then she fires him.The woman he loves, the much younger wife of a professor who dies in mysterious circumstances, has disappeared. Is he merely a pawn? Life holds many secrets, especially when, like in a game of chess, the pawn reaches the last row. We understand that a person can only be exploited so far . . .

LOUIS-PHILIPPE HÉBERT is an award-winning author of ten books of poetry and prose in French and English. His poems, short stories, and reviews have been published widely in literary magazines and newspapers in Canada and internationally. He participated in poetry readings and festivals around the world, including Brussels, Moscow, Buenos Aires, Mexico, Morelia, Pereira, Columbia, St. Petersburg, and La Rochelle. He lives in Wentworth-Nord, Quebec. Growing up in Québec, ARDETH NEALE developed an early love for language and an understanding of its intimate relationship with culture, which was further established though teaching, travel, and translation. A Graduate of Concordia Universtiy (B.Ed. TESL) and UQÀM (Cert. Adaptation Scolaire, Cert. Psychologie), Ardeth is presently enrolled in Concordia's graduate diploma of Translation program. She lives in Montreal.

Louis-Philippe Hébert's profile page

JONATHAN KAPLANSKY won a French Voices Award to translate Nobel Prize winning author Annie Ernaux’s La vie extérieure (Things Seen). His translation of Frank Borzage: The Life and Films of a Hollywood Romantic by Hervé Dumont was a finalist for the Wall Award from the Theatre Library Association. Recent translations include Jonathan Bécotte’s Like a Hurricane, Hélène Rioux’s The End of the World is Elsewhere, and the libretto of an opera by Hélène Dorion and Marie-Claire Blais entitled Yourcenar: An Island of Passions. He has also translated Dorion’s Days of Sand. Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Kaplansky now lives in Montreal.

Jonathan Kaplansky's profile page