Publication

2017-06-06 - Coach House Books

Language

English

Translation of: Suzanne

Word Count

65,250 words, Guess

Page Count

261 pages

Physical Format

Paperback

Identifiers

Classifications

  • LCCPQ3919.3.B3668 F4613 2017

Description

**SHORTLISTED FOR CBC CANADA READS 2019** **WINNER OF THE BEST TRANSLATED BOOK AWARD** Eighty-five years of art and history through the eyes of a woman who fled her family - as re-imagined by her granddaughter. Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette never knew her mother's mother. Curious to understand why her grandmother, Suzanne, a sometime painter and poet associated with Les Automatistes, a movement of dissident artists that included Paul-Émile Borduas, abandoned her husband and young family, Barbeau-Lavalette hired a private detective to piece together Suzanne's life. Suzanne, winner of the Prix des libraires du Québec and a bestseller in French, is a fictionalized account of Suzanne's life over eighty-five years, from Montreal to New York to Brussels, from lover to lover, through an abortion, alcoholism, Buddhism, and an asylum. It takes readers through the Great Depression, Québec's Quiet Revolution, women's liberation, and the American civil rights movement, offering a portrait of a volatile, fascinating woman on the margins of history. And it's a granddaughter's search for a past for herself, for understanding and forgiveness. 'It's about a nameless despair, an unbearable sadness. But it's also a reflection on what it means to be a mother, and an artist. Most of all, it's a magnificent novel.'- Les Méconnus

Subjects

Topics

CanadaFictionBiographyDissentersWomen artistsCollection:Canada ReadsWomen artists -- Fiction

Other Editions

  • SuzannePaperbackCoach House Books2017-06-06

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