August 1979: twelve-year-old Michael Saint-Pierre disappears in the woods near Rivière-aux-Trembles when he and his friend Marnie Duchamp encounter a sudden storm. After an extensive search, only a muddy sneaker is found.

Thirty years later, in a neighboring town, little Billie Richard, who is about to celebrate her ninth birthday, fails to return home after school. Again, it's as if she's vanished into thin air.

Just like Marnie, who is haunted by the trauma of Michael's disappearance, Billie’s father is consumed by mourning and grief. As tehy come to terms with the inconceivable disappearances that have marked their lives, neither suspects that another tragedy will soon strike close to home...

An atmospheric mystery and a sharp exploration of guilt and sorrow, Trembling River is a powerful work from internationally renowned novelist Andrée A. Michaud and translated by J. C. Sutcliffe.

ANDRÉE A. MICHAUD is one of the most beloved and celebrated writers in the French language. She is, among numerous accolades, a two-time winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award and has won the Arthur Ellis Award for Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing, the Prix Ringuet, and France’s Prix SNCF du Polar. Her novel Boundary was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and has been published in seven territories, and the English translation of Back Roads was a finalist for Governor General’s Literary Award. She was born in Saint-Sébastien-de-Frontenac and continues to live in the province of Quebec.

Andrée A. Michaud's profile page

J. C. SUTCLIFFE is a translator, writer, and editor. Her translation of Back Roads by Andrée A. Michaud was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. Her other translations include Mama’s Boy and Mama’s Boy Behind Bars by David Goudreault, Document 1 by François Blais, and Worst Case, We Get Married by Sophie Bienvenu. She has written for the Globe and Mail, the Times Literary Supplement, and the National Post, among others. She lives in Peterborough, Ontario.

J.C. Sutcliffe's profile page

Michaud’s novels are not typical, and her weaving of psychological and supernatural aspects takes her stories to another level. They do not overwhelm the story, but their presence is always felt, always hanging over the main characters and events, always elusive, always destructive. … A wonderful weaver of dark tales.

Winnipeg Free Press

When the inner dialogue of characters meandering down the frightening path to madness makes up most of the pages in a novel, it often becomes difficult to separate what is real from what isn’t. This challenge is all the more heightened when translating. The writing here is masterful.

Montreal Review of Books

Fast paced and engaging.

Cloud Lake Literary

An intriguing dramaturgy, the literary novel Trembling River begins with a missing-persons riddle and develops into an exploration of sorrow and the ramifications of guilt on those left behind.

Foreword

A deep and respectful study in the impact of loss, the proliferation of guilt and judgment, and the ability of people to survive to face another day.

Miramichi Reader

In Trembling River, Andrée A. Michaud explores the textures of sorrow and mourning underpinned by a mystery that slowly builds into a rolling crescendo, and offers an unexpectedly satisfying ending without succumbing to clichés … Deeply moving and often heartbreaking, Trembling River manages to confront the wreckage left behind when children go missing.

Room Magazine