The title character Ari could have stepped out of a traditional folk tale straight into the day before yesterday. Son of a monstrous, unscrupulous mother and a faint-hearted father, he catches a glimpse of a life that would be to his liking when he encounters a young woman who .... but you have to read the novel to find out how the rest of Ari's life pans out.

Pan Bouyoucas is a Montreal prize-winning writer, playwright, and translator whose novels and plays have been translated into several languages. Two of his novels were written originally in English: The Man Who Wanted to Drink Up the Sea, which was selected by France's FNAC as one of the 12 best novels of 2005, and The Tattoo, which was longlisted for the 2012 Re-Lit Award.

Sheila Fischman is the award-winning translator of some 200 contemporary novels from Quebec. In 2008, she was awarded the Molson Prize in the Arts. She is a Member of the Order of Canada and a chevalier of the Ordre national du Québec. She lives in Montreal.