Description: "This history of oppression, at the heart of a well-intentioned Catholic family, depicts a combination of prohibitions and censures. Greatness and misery follow one another. In exchange for the slavish obedience of her two daughters, the mother promises to support them against the tyrannical father. Rather than Montreal or the suburbs, the family settle into a hotel at the cross-roads of a practically deserted village. An impenetrable forest surrounds the hotel where the usual customers resemble characters from Hugo and Gorki. In hopes of escape, the younger daughter marries while the elder, against her parents' wishes, emerses herself in studies and questions whose answers may prove disturbing."--
Brief description:
Recognized as one of the important Quebec feminist writers and the recent winner of the prestigious Prix Athanase-David for the body of her work, France Théoret was born in Montreal. She holds a doctorate in French from the University of Sherbrooke. After having taught for 19 years at the Cegep level, she now concentrates full-time on her writing. She is the author of nine books, including the translated Guernica titles The Tangible Word and Girls Closed In.
Review Quotes:
For 30 years, France Théoret's writing has tried to piece together the fragments of a shattered mirror depicting the self ... [This] is a moving and overwhelming book, written with sobriety and subtlety.
--Suzanne Giguère, Le Devoir