What anxiety grips Petites Cendres as he runs towards the sea in the
sunshine on a warm tropical morning? Shouldn't he be reassured by the
thought that he now lives at the Acacia Gardens, a comfortable home
where all find care, understanding, and healing? How can Fleur, the
young musical prodigy, listen to the diabolical confessions of Wrath,
the fugitive priest, without shuddering? And, can Daniel the writer
finish his novel, the one he has been working on for twenty years,
despite his sensitivity and empathy for all creatures, even if they are
the most humble, like the lizard he inadvertently crushed under his
sandal?
With this latest novel, Marie-Claire Blais once again gives us a vibrant
portrait that embraces the span of life -- from birth to death and
beyond. Her characters question their purpose and what will come after,
as they are confronted by evil that lives and that has taken root.