Behind the Eyes We Meet

Why must one man perish while another survives? How does losing a sibling at birth affect life? And what are the chances that a fish lost and a cat found will bring our two protagonists together? This sweeping tale of intertwined destinies takes the reader from present-day Montreal to war-torn Italy and back again, with a gruelling march through the frozen Eastern Front of World War II along the way. All the while, secrets burn behind every pair of eyes we meet.

Mélissa Verreault was born in 1983. She has a master's degree in translation from Université Laval in Quebec City and lives in Lévis with her Italian husband and their triplets. She has published three novels in French, all with La Peuplade: Voyage Léger (Prix France-Québec finalist, 2012), L'angoisse du poisson rouge (Prix des libraires du Québec finalist, 2015), and Les voies de la disparition (2016), as well as a collection of short stories. Behind The Eyes We Meet is the English translation of L'angoisse du poisson rouge, her first novel to be translated. Arielle Aaronson has a diploma in Translation Studies from Concordia University and an M.A. in Second Language Education from McGill University. Her first translation, 21 Days in October, was published by Baraka Books in 2013 and she co-translated, also from QC Fiction, earlier this year.