A woman, following a visit to Auschwitz, meditates on the possibility - or impossibility - of continuing to live, following the killing of millions in death camps. The subject is not new. But Louise Dupr makes this horror present again, while at the same time emphasizing the need to go beyond it. Being a parent, as is the anonymous "you" in the book, is to both witness this horror and to raise children who are unaware of this terror, whose innocence seems to make perfect victims of them. It is to hold a child "above the flames," desperately seeking to protect them and, through them, to save ourselves.

Born in Sherbrooke, Quebec, in 1949, Louise Dupr has published numerous art books, poetry collections, essays and novels. She has received many prizes and awards, including the 2011 Governor General's Award for her poetry collection Plus haut que les flammes, from which this translation is taken. She is a member of l'Acadmie des lettres du Qubec et de la Socit Royale du Canada.