Dominique Fortier

La porte du ciel

288 pages | Avril 2014

3 000 copies sold!

Under a swath of Louisiana sky, the brown and white furrows of a cotton field stretch on as far as the eye can see. Two young girls grow up, one in the shadow of the other. An oddly impossible church is built in the middle of a marsh, a forgotten village sleeps silently in a bend of the Mississippi. Not far away rises the clamour of war in which brothers face each other under separate star-spangled banners.

Larger than life, this third novel by the author of On the proper use of stars and Wonder offers up an America of legendary proportions that is tearing itself apart to better invent itself. Labyrinthian and kaleidoscopic, La porte du ciel leads us along a hundred different paths caught between dreams and history.

Rights sold

France

Les escales

France - Paperback

Pocket

Reviews

La Presse

'Dominique Fortier has emerged among the short list of essential Quebec writers. Her third novel does not disappoint: we find an author in full possession of her craft, a polished style, capable of speaking of both unrequited desire and fraternal love against the backdrop of the American Civil War.'

L'actualité

'Dominique Fortier has assembled her novel as though it was a cleverly crafted patchwork, and then stitched in black and white motifs that intertwine before merging. Testifying to our shared humanity, delicate stitching such as this is the true mark of great literature.'

Auteure | Traductrice

Dominique Fortier

Dominique Fortier is a writer and translator living in Outremont, Quebec. Her first novel, On the Proper Use of Stars (2008), was nominated for a Governor General's Award, and The Island of Books won the Governor General's Award for French fiction. She received the Renaudot Prize for non-fiction with Paper Houses. She is the author of six novels, four of which have been translated into English.