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list price: $21
edition:Paperback
category: Fiction
published: Mar 2008
ISBN:9780771012570
publisher: McClelland & Stewart
imprint: Douglas Gibson Books

The Years of Fire

Charles the Bold, Volume 2

by Yves Beauchemin, translated by Wayne Grady

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Description

The second novel in the highly acclaimed series Charles the Bold, about a young man growing up in east-end Montreal.

“Montreal! You’re going to be hearing from me! I’m going to make your ears ring!”

These are the last words in this hypnotically interesting saga that follow the adventurous life of our bold hero, Charles Thibodeau.

This book takes us through his high school years, and is called The Years of Fire for three reasons. First, he discovers girls, and we follow his fumbling but enthusiastic adventures with them. Second, he becomes fired up about politics (“Every so often he would raise his right hand and stare at it in amazement. Just think, it has just shaken the hand of René Lévesque!”) and the first Quebec referendum plays a major role in this book. Above all, fire changes his life when his estranged father threatens his stepfather’s store with arson, and Charles gets involved in dealing drugs to pay him off. How he escapes from his contacts with the pool-hall underworld, with the help of his friends, and emerges as an ambitious young writer makes for involving and fascinating reading, provided by a superb storyteller.

From the Hardcover edition.

About the Authors

Yves Beauchemin

YVES BEAUCHEMIN is a mordant social satirist and one of the most pre-eminent Québecois writers of his generation. His novels include Charles the Bold, The Waitress of the Café Cherrier, and The Alley Cat, which was the bestselling French-Canadian novel of all time. He is also a children’s book writer and a member of the Académie des lettres du Québec. In 2011, he was awarded the Ludger-Duvernay Prize, which recognizes the outstanding contribution and societal influence of Quebec writers.


Wayne Grady is an award-winning author and translator. He won the Governor General's Award for his translation of Antonine Maillet's On the Eighth Day.
Contributor Notes

Yves Beauchemin is Quebec’s most popular novelist, and the author of the bestseller The Alley Cat. His first book in this series, Charles the Bold, appeared in English in fall 2006.

From the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Review

Charles the Bold is a truly astonishing work. A beautifully crafted portrait of the artist as a young child, of a boy seeking shelter in a world over which he holds little power, and of a Quebec awakening to a new political reality. From the yellow dog to Fernand Fafard, this is a novel overflowing with unforgettable characters. I never wanted it to end, and when it did, I wanted to leap immediately into Wayne Grady’s luminous translation of the next volume. I only hope that Charles the Bold will claim its place as one of the great works of Canadian literature.”
— Madeleine Thien

From the Hardcover edition.

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