And what if I’d turned to the right instead of the left? The question permeates this novel and haunts its hero, whose life, on the Greek island of Leros, collapsed one day after the war when his carefree steps caused the explosion of a grenade - a souvenir left behind by the Germans. And what if I’d turned to the right? he asks himself, until a strange new development in his life gives him a glimpse at the answer.
TITLE : The Other
AUTHOR : Pan Bouyoucas
COUNTRY : Canada
AUTHOR : Pan Bouyoucas
COUNTRY : Canada
NUMBER OF PAGES : 104
SOLD TO: Pocket (France), Cormorant (Canada).
SOLD TO: Pocket (France), Cormorant (Canada).
EXCERPT
He had taken over his father’s barber shop and had as customers some of the British who were occupying Leros while they waited to return it to the Greeks, once they were no longer at each other’s throats. Some of the British were happy to teach him a few words of their language during each of their visits. One even gave him an English-Greek dictionary as a present. This man was actually Irish and he only spent a few days on Leros. But Thomas would never forget his name, because he would often see it in the papers. When Thomas told him of his desire to see the world, the Irishman also gave him the magazine he was reading while waiting his turn to be shaved. It was the National Geographic. The Irishman’s name was Larry Durrell.
“Go, my son, you must know enough English now,” said his mother a few months later.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Of Greek background, Pan Bouyoucas came to Quebec in 1963, becoming a translator, playwriter, and film critic. L’autre, published by Les Allusifs in 2001, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. He has also published short stories and two plays, notably Nocturne, which played at Montreal’s Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui in 1998. He won the literary prize Collégiens du Québec 2005 with Anna Pourquoi. His third novel, The Man who Wanted to Drink Up the Sea (Les Allusifs, 2005) has been chosen by the french bookstores FNAC as one of the 28 best literary autumn novels.
He had taken over his father’s barber shop and had as customers some of the British who were occupying Leros while they waited to return it to the Greeks, once they were no longer at each other’s throats. Some of the British were happy to teach him a few words of their language during each of their visits. One even gave him an English-Greek dictionary as a present. This man was actually Irish and he only spent a few days on Leros. But Thomas would never forget his name, because he would often see it in the papers. When Thomas told him of his desire to see the world, the Irishman also gave him the magazine he was reading while waiting his turn to be shaved. It was the National Geographic. The Irishman’s name was Larry Durrell.
“Go, my son, you must know enough English now,” said his mother a few months later.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Of Greek background, Pan Bouyoucas came to Quebec in 1963, becoming a translator, playwriter, and film critic. L’autre, published by Les Allusifs in 2001, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. He has also published short stories and two plays, notably Nocturne, which played at Montreal’s Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui in 1998. He won the literary prize Collégiens du Québec 2005 with Anna Pourquoi. His third novel, The Man who Wanted to Drink Up the Sea (Les Allusifs, 2005) has been chosen by the french bookstores FNAC as one of the 28 best literary autumn novels.