Burden of Dreams

Marguerite Andersen is a professor of French studies at the University
of Guelph.

Winner of the 1992 Governor General’s Award for French Fiction, this
intense and lyrical novel relates the story of two children growing up
with a loving, overprotective mother. Burden of Dreams can be read as an
allegory, with Mother Quebec watching her rebellious children while
Father Quebec “consoles himself with beer and cards.” The children,
born into the fresh air of the countryside, are curious about the
outside world and tempted by its apparent lightness, which is
personified by a young girl named Lydie, who wants to set these siblings
free “to relieve her boredom.” Hélиne, the daughter, dies while
shooting rapids with Lydie, “tempting God and the Devil at once.”
Julien, her brother, meets Aline, but cannot forget Lydie. Sheila
Fischman has produced a masterful translation of this beautiful
coming-of-age story.