A yarn to rival the best of them, a big fat whopper of a tall tale that bounces around from provincial Rivière-du-Loup in 1919 to Nagasaki, 1990s Berlin, Rome, and beyond. Funny, touching, and unpredictable, this is the story of a century—long and glorious, stuffed full of parallels, repeating motifs, and unforgettable characters—with the passion and plotting of a modern-day Tosca. A Canadian fiction bestseller (November-December 2018) Best Canadian Fiction of 2018 – Top 25 Books, CBC Books A Globe and Mail Top 100 Favourite Book of 2018 In the press "spectacular... original in every sense" (Literary Review of Canada) "masterful... heartbreaking and hilarious" (Publishers Weekly) "highly recommended" (Library Journal) "fiercely readable" (Toronto Star) "This book manages to capture the cultural zeitgeist of Quebec culture in the twentieth century. It reminded me of all the great French Canadian novels I read as a child, but pushed them to new, delightful, hilarious, epic levels. [...] I dare you not to read the first three pages and fall in love." (Heather O'Neill, jury member, 2018 Giller Prize) "As magnificent a work of irony and magic as the boldest works of Gabriel García Márquez, but with a wholly original sensibility that captures the marvellous obsessions of the Québécois zeitgeist of the 20th century. It is, without a doubt, a tour de force. And the translation is as exquisite as a snowflake." (Giller Prize jury)"This book manages to capture the cultural zeitgeist of Quebec culture in the twentieth century. It reminded me of all the great French Canadian novels I read as a child, but pushed them to new, delightful, hilarious, epic levels. [...] I dare you not to read the first three pages and fall in love." (Heather O'Neill, jury member, 2018 Giller Prize)