Yves Beauchemin Author of Charles the Bold (Translated by Wayne Grady) Yves Beauchemin, who was born 26 June 1941 in Noranda, is a major figure in modern Québecois writing. His second novel, Le matou (1981), (translated as The Alley Cat), sold more than one million copies in French (the all-time bestselling novel in Quebec literature) and has been translated into seventeen languages, as well as being made into a film and a television series. He was educated in French literature and art history at the Université de Montréal, taught literature at the Collège Garneau and Université Laval, and has worked as a journalist and with Radio-Québec. Beauchemin worked in journalism and in broadcasting before becoming a full-time writer. He has written books for children, an opera libretto, and other works, but it is his novels (including Juliette Pomerleau, 1989, and The Second Violin, 1996) that have brought him his greatest acclaim, leading to comparisons with Dickens, Rabelais, and Balzac, and winning him many prizes. He lives in the Montreal suburb of Longeuil. Beauchemin's first novel, L'enfirouapé (1974), won the Prix France-Québec and he won the Prix Jean Giono for his third novel, Juliette Pormerleau (1989). In his fiction Beauchemin closely observes life around him, in ways which remind critics of Balzac and Dickens. The Charles the Bold trilogy is now being translated into an English series in Charles the Bold (2006) and The Years of Fire (2007). Before the publication of the Charles le Téméraire series in 2004, Yves Beauchemin was best known for his 1981 novel, The Alley Cat. Translated into seventeen languages and selling more than a million copies worldwide, it established its author as one of Canada's greatest storytellers, and it became what The Canadian Encyclopedia calls "the all-time best selling novel in Quebec literature." Reviews Charles the Bold is a daring, fascinating, funny, intense, sad story. Occasionally it's frustrating, and occasionally it's predictable. In other words, the story is as daring, fascinating, funny, intense, sad, frustrating, and predictable as Quebec. In fact, the novel can be read as one extended metaphor about Quebec and the independence movement. Another way to read this novel is as an adventure, like the adventure novels Charles reads to escape his fractured world. One character even tells him: 'You're like some hero in a novel!' But this puts too narrow a scope on a novel of such depth of field and shifting focus." - Raymond Beauchemin, Montreal Gazette "Charles is a kind of Oliver Twist and this is a very Dickensian story with a peculiarly Quebecois spin. . . . We're willingly drawn along on the narrative, bouncing from episode to episode as Charles ages. The near-magical coincidences of history with the turning points in Charles's life, together with the sentimentally charged symbols, characters and events, give this book a sparkle that counterbalances the tragedies and drudgeries Charles endures. This is a book to be read for the pleasure of it, for the characters we come to know and worry over, for the genuine suspense of all his childhood crises." - Michel Basilières, Toronto Star "Beauchemin's exceedingly readable and enchanting novel brings to life an indomitable child who survives and prospers despite his rough crossing. . . . A consummate storyteller, Beauchemin has been compared to Dickens, Rabelais and Balzac — just the captain to navigate us through the rough waters of an unforgettable character's life." - Elizabeth Johnston, Globe and Mail Link to complete review: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20070317.BKYVES17/TPStory/Entertainment/Books "Charles the Bold is a truly astonishing work. A beautifully crafted portrait of the artist as a young child, of a boy seeking shelter in a world over which he holds little power, and of a Quebec awakening to a new political reality. From the yellow dog to Fernand Fafard, this is a novel overflowing with unforgettable characters. I never wanted it to end, and when it did, I wanted to leap immediately into Wayne Grady's luminous translation of the next volume. I only hope that Charles the Bold will claim its place as one of the great works of Canadian literature." - Madeleine Thein Quill and Quire Review: http://www.quillandquire.com/reviews/review.cfm?review_id=5259 Related Links Book Web site: http://www.mcclelland.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780771011474