Yolande Bastarache left us too soon. Reading the dozen short stories in this posthumous collection feels like stumbling upon a sunny, ocean-breeze-swept secret garden inhabited by endearing characters, both fictional and real.
“I must jot this story down in my diary. It will be of no interest to the adults. My friend Juliette is a well-behaved girl who never lies. She only speaks when she has something to say. Often, Annie and I wonder what is going on in her head. So on the day she started telling us this upsetting story, which I will relate, Annie and I listened to her with great respect. I must recount everything about his day, when the inconceivable and total outrage collided to shatter a life.”
Entering Yolande Bastarache’s world means meeting children happily skipping down village streets, eccentric aunts hiding well-kept secrets, and other colourful characters, each with their own worries, but all endearing and full of life. It’s discovering a world of secrets and unexpected kindness.
Yolande Bastarache, avid reader, and occasional writer, was the wife of former Supreme Court of Canada justice Michel Bastarache.
Published in French.
