POLATOUCHES

A novel about identity, strangeness and the role of ancestral knowledge in a country cut off from its traditions

Holed up at her parents' cabin with her best friend, Claude, Stéphanie reflects on her love life and starts to think about about coming out of the closet at last. Her partner, Josée, who has turned her back on her Cree roots and was raised by a non-indigenous family, is keen to get married and start a family. But that's the last thing Stéphanie wants. As she and Claude watch the animals around the cabin, they get to know some of their neighbours, who are all very friendly, but are starting to seem more and more bizarre. Only when the masks come off will she answer the question that has been eating away at her — Who are you?

This story of love, friendship and monsters raises some probing questions about our identity and heritage, and what we do with it.

Born in Carleton-sur-Mer on Quebec's outlying Gaspe Peninsula, Marie Christine Bernard now lives, writes
and teaches in the Lac-Saint-Jean area. She is the author of five novels, including Mademoiselle Personne,
winner of the 2009 Prix littéraire France-Quebec. On the strength of her last novel, Matisiwin, she was chosen by Quebec's ministry of international relations and Francophone affairs to travel to Mexico and represent her homeland at a week-long celebration of the French language (2016).