The Island of Books - by Dominique Fortier (Paperback)

About the Book

"A 15th-century portrait painter, grieving the sudden death of his lover, takes refuge at the monastery at Mont Saint-Michel, an island off the coast of France. He haunts the halls until a monk assigns him the task of copying a manuscript - though he is illiterate. His work slowly heals him and continues the tradition that had, centuries earlier, grown the monastery's library into a beautiful city of books, all under the shadow of the invention of the printing press."--

Book Synopsis

A fifteenth-century portrait painter, grieving the untimely death of his unrequited love, takes refuge at the monastery at Mont Saint-Michel, an island off the coast of France. He haunts the halls until the monks assign him the task of copying manuscripts - though he is illiterate. His work heals him and grows the monastery's library into a beautiful city of books, all under the shadow of the invention of the printing press.

Dominique Fortier is an editor and translator living in Montreal. She is the author of five books, including On the Proper Use of Stars and Wonder.

Rhonda Mullins is an award-winning translator and writer living in Montreal, Quebec.

Review Quotes

'[Fortier's] sensuous prose, rendered with perfect smoothness by Mullins, is always a pleasure in itself, and she lets the historical parallels and affinities... emerge organically. The result is a seductive love letter to reading, to books, and to the creative impulse.'
--Montreal Gazette

About the Author

Dominique Fortier: Dominique Fortier is an editor and translator living in Outremont, Quebec. Her first novel, Good use of stars (2008), was nominated for a Governor General's Award. She is the author of five books, two of which have been translated into English.
Rhonda Mullins: Rhonda Mullins is a writer and translator living in Montréal. She received the 2015 Governor General's Literary Award for Twenty-One Cardinals, her translation of Jocelyne Saucier's Les héritiers de la mine. And the Birds Rained Down, her translation of Jocelyne Saucier's Il pleuvait des oiseaux, was a CBC Canada Reads Selection. It was also shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award, as were her translations of Élise Turcotte's Guyana and Hervé Fischer's The Decline of the Hollywood Empire.