An Amazon top 100 book of 2009!

On the fringes of a small town in the Laurentians lives a community of misfits. There’s Lila, the landlady of the forest who shoulders a terrible guilt; the young, beautiful and carefree Violette, who bears deep childhood scars, and the boy Jeremy, who whispers his confessions to the frogs and ants in the forest. There’s Claire, who writes murder scenes, and Simon, who cares for his brother’s son while pining for various women. Each of Monique Proulx's characters has come to this forgiving Eden to escape some private trauma; forced to interact through loneliness and proximity, they learn each others’ secrets, with stunning consequences.

Told from the perspective of each character, shifting between the past and the present, Wildlives takes the reader on a fantasy ride of intrigue and character exploration. With its existential mystery, evocation of unspoiled nature and spectacular characters, the novel brings to mind Paul Auster, Henry David Thoreau and Isabelle Allende.

Nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award for French fiction (French edition)