On the shore of the St. Lawrence River, a writer paces the beach and collects multicoloured pieces of glass that the tide has made soft as pebbles. Each is unique, a small miracle, the fruit of a long and patient work of the elements, of chance. She classifies them carefully. At the same time she collects characters who gradually inhabit her white page. There''s a couple who visit Bruges and realize that nothing will ever be the same again; a student who peels an orange instead of writing his dissertation on happiness; a woman who comes home to an empty apartment that her companion has just left forever. There is the little girl who turns herself into a filmmaker to shoot scenes with her dolls having sex, and there are children at summer camp waiting for their mother on the night Marilyn Monroe died. In these stories Christiane Frenette demonstrates the ways in which life works on beings, making us witnesses at the elusive moment when their deepest truth shows through the surface.

Christiane Frenette is the author of the Governor General''s Literary Award-winning novel, La Terre ferme, as well as the acclaimed novels, La nuit entiere and Apres la nuit rouge; of these three books, the first two have been translated by Sheila Fischman and are available under the titles Terra Firma and The Whole Night Through. Apres la nuit rouge won the Prix elittraire ville de Quebec in 2006. Christiane is also the author of several collections of poetry, including Ceremonie memoire, and Indigo nuit, for which she received the Prix Octave-Cremazie. Sheila Fischman is one of Canada''s most distinguished and honoured literary translators. She has translated the works of Jacques Poulin, Francois Gravel, lise Turcotte, and Pascale Quiviger, among many others. For her work, she has been nominated for the Governor General''s Literary Award, the Canada Council Translation Prize, and the Felix-Antoine Savard Prize, each of which she has won. In 2001, she was named to the Order of Canada in recognition of the excellence of her work. Sheila Fischman lives in Montreal.

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.

Christiane Frenette is the author of the Governor General''s Literary Award-winning novel, La Terre ferme, as well as the acclaimed novels, La nuit entiere and Apres la nuit rouge; of these three books, the first two have been translated by Sheila Fischman and are available under the titles Terra Firma and The Whole Night Through. Apres la nuit rouge won the Prix elittraire ville de Quebec in 2006. Christiane is also the author of several collections of poetry, including Ceremonie memoire, and Indigo nuit, for which she received the Prix Octave-Cremazie. Sheila Fischman is one of Canada''s most distinguished and honoured literary translators. She has translated the works of Jacques Poulin, Francois Gravel, lise Turcotte, and Pascale Quiviger, among many others. For her work, she has been nominated for the Governor General''s Literary Award, the Canada Council Translation Prize, and the Felix-Antoine Savard Prize, each of which she has won. In 2001, she was named to the Order of Canada in recognition of the excellence of her work. Sheila Fischman lives in Montreal.