The Sound of Living Things

Albanie is thirty years old. Her daughter Maria is four. The two are on their own. They are given the rare freedom to pursue a life of the imagination, by virtue of Albanie''s job. She works at the local library. Out of the passing of days, the flow of words, the aspects of life they explore together, a love story unlike any other is woven between Albanie and Maria - one that enables them to feel and hear the sound of living things.

Albanie is 30 years old, her daughter Maria is four, and the two are on their own. But luckily, Albanie''s work at the local library allows them the rare freedom to pursue a life of the imagination. Out of the passing of days, the flow of words, the aspects of life they explore together, a love story unlike any other is woven between Albanie and Maria, one that enables them to feel and hear the "sound of living things" which connects them to the world and its images, even if "images don''t say everything about the things that happen". Maria declares that solace must be found for everything, for living beings and for objects, for varieties of love, even for speech itself, which tries to express what is inexpressible about life, "a stolen thing". In the poignant details of daily life, mother and daughter rediscover their capacity for joy.

Sheila Fischman is one of Canada''s premier translators. She has translated over 125 books and for her work was awarded the Molson Prize in 2008. In 2007, her translation of Jacques Poulin''s novel My Sister''s Blue Eyes was a finalist for the Governor General''s Literary Award for Translation, and in 2006, her translation of Pascale Quiviger''s novel The Perfect Circle was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Élise Turcotte is a novelist and award-winning poet who has received the Prix Emile Nelligan for La terre est ici in 1989 and for La voix de Carla in 1987. In 1992, she won the Prix Louis-Hémon for Le bruit des choses vivantes. Her novel The Alien House was shortlisted for the 2004 Governor General''s Literary Award for Translation. Élise lives in Montreal, where she has taught at the CEGEP de Vieux-Montréal since 1986.