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La désidérata
Narré par Pascale Montpetit, avec une musique originale de Marie Pierre Arthur et François Lafontaine. Durée : 4 h 41 | Avril 2021
Under the blinding skies of Noirax, a long tradition of secrets lies dormant. The men of the Malmaison insist on this silence, feed their broods, and collect a string of ill-fated women (Pampelune, Helena, the Pimparela) known as the desideratas.
Father is content since all’s calm on his estate. He’s locked the door to the House of Perfume to keep the truth from seeping out. After a failed romance, his son, Jeanty, is back home and exploring a new identity. Soon, Aliénor arrives to seek answers and rock the boat. The Crone also shows up, but isn’t who she appears to be. The curtain rises.
La Désidérata pays tribute to stifled voices in graceful, lyrical prose punctuated by dark nursery rhymes. A luminous tale of rebirth, restoration, and revenge.
An English translation will be available soon.
Finaliste – Grand Prix du Livre audio 2022
Coup de coeur Renaud-Bray
Rights sold
World English
Coach House
Reviews
publishers Weekly
“This is a feast for lovers of gothic lit.”
La Presse
“Marie Hélène Poitras offers readers yet another surprise by taking us where we least expected to go: into an enchanted, sinister forest like the woods of fairy tales… and the nursery rhymes that have left children quaking for centuries, without truly understanding their deep, dark meaning.”
Sélection Reader’s Digest
“A tale that is both beautiful and cruel, like only fairy tales can be. One that is deep and rich in what is found within and between the lines, like only fairy tales can be. […] This is already quite an achievement, and then Marie Hélène Poitras adds […] a sensuality that stretches out in every direction. […] A novel that is beautiful in content and form, to be read and discussed.”
Le Devoir
“Marie Hélène writes both the marvelous and the contemptable, the magical and the horrific. She writes about the question of origins and the silence offered up as an answer.”
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