“A snake approached, curious, undulating around my legs before slipping under my fingers. Like her, I gave up my skin, I stripped myself of my fears. I resumed my walk, the water rising slowly with each of my steps. […] I went quietly to join this great silence that the nuns could never offer me. » Seeking a meaning in existence, shared between Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie and Lac Sainte-Marie, both apprentice witch and frog, Dorothée, 11 years old, venerates silence just like her mother’s words, insists on protect his “flashes of clairvoyance” and “believe[t] that there exists[e] always a magic resisting the bland decor doubling wherever [elle] pos[e] the look”. We are moved by this little girl straight out of Ducharme’s novels, clairvoyant and ingenuous, hopeful and totally aware of the inevitable fate of humanity. Hélène Forest delivers here a sensitive and impactful first novel about childhood, from that age between two waters, where everything is both full of possibilities and terrible. A poetic voice to watch.
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