First there is Léopold, a little seaside boy, in love with mermaids, who thwarts boredom by collecting their tears, then follow different characters, notably the twins Élie and Éloi, passionate about words and pipistrelles, the brothers Willows, thieves of dead fish, real “crazy people”, according to Martin, narrator of seven tasty and improbable stories, up to this “silted child”, imprisoned in a jug by fanciful parents. Around childhood, it’s a total of 29 stories as brutal as they are tender, worlds of mistreated childhoods, terrified or amazed by life, by all that it has that is beautiful and horrible to offer. In an ingenuous style that bursts from the page, turns of phrase that are both impactful and candid, Hugues Corriveau looks at and recounts the light and dark sides of these characters with striking sensitivity and acuity. Like a naturalness rooted in the poet’s language, the love of words, their sound and their beauty return in each of the stories, offering a collection that is above all poetic.
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