The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches - Softcover

Soucy, Gaetan; Fischman, Sheila

3.77

3,291 ratings by Goodreads

9780887847813: The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0887847811 ISBN 13: 9780887847813

Publisher: House of Anansi Pr, 2007

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Alone with their bullying father on a vast estate, a sister and brother speak a language and inhabit a universe of their own making. When the old man commits suicide, they are forced into contact with the villagers and their cloak of romance and superstition quickly falls away to reveal shocking truths. Balancing naivete with carnality, Soucy employs his signature playfulness, plot twists, and fascination with guilt, cruelty, and violence in a narrative tour de force where nothing is quite what it seems."

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Review:

Praise for Gaetan Soucy and The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches

"Short, sharp, very successful." -- Globe and Mail

"Soucy is a master of suspense . . . While the tale becomes more explicit as it progresses, it also becomes more bewitching, more mysteriously pulsating." -- Le Monde

"Takes a short time to read and a long time to forget." -- Toronto Star

"A magnificent novel, writing that dazzles." -- Elle (France)

"The darkness at the heart of this story takes some ferreting out, the horror all the more affecting because it has become so everyday." -- Georgia Straight

From the Back Cover:

A finalist for France's prestigious Prix Renaudot, and translated into more than ten languages, 'The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond Of Matches' is the strikingly original tale of two siblings growing up isolated from the outside world.

Alone with their authoritative father on a vast estate where time has stopped, the pair speak a language and inhabit a surreal universe of their own making. When their father dies they come into contact with the outside world for the first time, and the appalling truth of their existence is revealed.

A richly imaginative story in which nothing is a tour de force of suspense, linguistic invention and playfulness.

"Soucy is a master of suspense: he gives life to enigmas in order to be better illuminate the story by plunging his reader into an even deeper, denser, richer mystery. While the tale becomes more explicit as it progresses, it also becomes more bewitching, more mysteriously pulsating."
Le Monde

"A mix of horror and beauty, cruelty and enchantment... A strong brew of earthly detail, pure poetry and suggestions of unspeakable horror."
Toronto Star

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