A fifteenth-century portrait painter, grieving the untimely death of his unrequited love, takes refuge at the monastery at Mont Saint-Michel, an island off the coast of France. He haunts the halls until the monks assign him the task of copying manuscripts - though he is illiterate. His work heals him and grows the monastery's library into a beautiful city of books, all under the shadow of the invention of the printing press.
Dominique Fortier is an editor and translator living in Montreal. She is the author of five books, including On the Proper Use of Stars and Wonder.
Rhonda Mullins is an award-winning translator and writer living in Montreal, Quebec.
Dominique Fortier is an editor and translator living in Outremont, Quebec. Her first novel, Du bon usage des étoiles (2008), was nominated for a Governor General's Award and the Prix des Libraires du Québec, and Au péril de la mer won the Governor General's Award for French fiction. She is the author of five books, four of which have been translated into English: On the Proper Use of Stars, Wonder, The Island of Books, and Paper Houses.
Coach House Books is an independent Canadian publisher of poetry, fiction, drama & nonfiction. Good on paper since 1965. https://t.co/SglKdt09sm
✨We're highlighting woman authors in translation and woman translators all month✨ Dominique Fortier is the author Paper Houses and The Island of Books, both translated from French by Rhonda Mullins. #WITMonth #WomenInTranslation https://t.co/DKSGJf2tjB
'[Fortier's] sensuous prose, rendered with perfect smoothness by Mullins, is always a pleasure in itself, and she lets the historical parallels and affinities... emerge organically. The result is a seductive love letter to reading, to books, and to the creative impulse.'
--Montreal Gazette