Rosaʼs Very Own Personal Revolution
Translated by Peter McCambridge
QC Fiction, Baraka Books; translation of La logeuse, by Éric Dupont
“Peter McCambridge’s translation, Rosa’s Very Own Personal Revolution, brilliantly renders Éric Dupont’s vibrant literary universe and rollicking story of an innocent young woman from the Gaspé Peninsula catapulted into turn-of-the-millenium Montréal. This rare feat of literary translation is a seamless, highly readable and wonderfully inventive work in its own right.”
—Peer assessment committee: Melissa Bull, Bilal Hashmi and Pablo Strauss
Synopsis
Rosa Ost grows up in Notre-Dame-du-Cachalot, a tiny village at the end of the world, where two industries are king: paper and Boredom. The only daughter of Terese Ost (a fair-to-middling trade unionist and a first-rate Scrabble player), the fate that befalls Rosa is the focus of this tale of long journeys and longer lives, of impossible deaths, unwavering prophecies and unsettling dreams as she leaves her village for Montréal on a quest to summon the westerly wind that has proved so vital to the local economy.
From village gossips, tealeaf-reading exotic dancers and Acadian red herrings to soothsaying winkles and centuries-old curses, Rosa’s Very Own Personal Revolution is a delightful, boundary-pushing story about stories and the storytellers who make them—and a reminder that revolutions in Quebec aren’t always quiet.
Biography
Peter McCambridge is a literary translator. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in modern languages from Cambridge University, England. His translations have been World Literature Today Notable Translations, longlisted for Canada Reads and finalists for the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation. Originally from Ireland, Peter has lived in Québec City, Quebec, since 2003, where he runs QC Fiction.
Photo courtesy of Peter McCambridge
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