Hunting Houses Read online

  The condo sold in forty-six days, earning me kudos from my new colleagues and a solid reputation with the orchestra. Josée and Stéphane were thrilled; separately, they asked me to help them find new apartments. Last year, the unit sold again. Another separation.

  As I walk past the building tonight with Oscar’s hand in mine — formerly I’d thought that it would be Jim who’d get him, that I’d send a hasty message in between sessions of infinitely joyous lovemaking, something like, Can’t come home yet, could you pick up Oscar, I’ll keep you posted — I notice that the new owners have changed the windows. They’re black now, the tilt-and-turn kind, and the new railing to the stairs is in wrought iron, black as well, as it used to be in the original building. They have planted tulips and lilies of the valley in the small patch of earth beside the building.

  Through a half-open door, I can see that the new owners have also transformed the whole apartment. Now there’s only one closed-off room; the rest is an open floorplan, and you can see through to the back wall itself, one big window. Strands of lights zigzag above the backyard. A breeze penetrates the apartment and sets the planter hung on the front balcony to swaying.

  The clawfoot bathtub is long gone. And the waterfall shower is said to be stunning with its brass fittings, just like the ones in magazines.

  “French expats, so in love,” I’m told by Julien, the server from the café, who knows everything.

  Acknowledgements

  The author would like to thank the Canada Council for the Arts for its financial support, which made the completion of this project possible.

  Thanks go out to Élisabeth Comtois and Émilie Laforest for their valuable knowledge of the world of music, and to Armande Ouellet for her research on Abitibi.

  Thanks to Samuel Lambert, first reader and first refuge.

  Thanks to Kelly Joseph, Amelia Spedaliere, and the whole team at House of Anansi for welcoming Tessa into their home, and to the wonderful Susan Ouriou and Christelle Morelli for uncovering her English voice.

  Lastly, thanks to Geneviève Thibault, reader, editor, and exceptional woman; if this book is in some small way of worth, it will be in large part through her doing.

  About the Author

  FANNY BRITT is a writer, playwright, and translator. She has written a dozen plays and translated more than fifteen. She is the winner of the 2013 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama for her play Bienveillance. Jane, the Fox and Me, her first graphic novel, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Children’s Literature — Text; was the winner of a Libris Award and a Joe Shuster award; and was on the New York Times Best Illustrated Books list. Her debut novel Les Maisons (Hunting Houses), was a finalist for the Prix littéraire des collégiens and the Prix littéraire France-Québec.

  About the Translators

  SUSAN OURIOU is an award-winning writer and literary translator working from French and Spanish into English with more than thirty literary translations to her credit. She has won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation and been part of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre since its creation.

  CHRISTELLE MORELLI is a literary translator and French immersion teacher. She has translated several works of fiction for publication, including Jane, the Fox and Me and Stolen Sisters, a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation. Having lived in Quebec and France, she now makes her home with her family in Western Canada.

  About the Publisher

  House of Anansi Press was founded in 1967 with a mandate to publish Canadian-authored books, a mandate that continues to this day even as the list has branched out to include internationally acclaimed thinkers and writers. The press immediately gained attention for significant titles by notable writers such as Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, George Grant, and Northrop Frye. Since then, Anansi’s commitment to finding, publishing and promoting challenging, excellent writing has won it tremendous acclaim and solid staying power. Today Anansi is Canada’s pre-eminent independent press, and home to nationally and internationally bestselling and acclaimed authors such as Gil Adamson, Margaret Atwood, Ken Babstock, Peter Behrens, Rawi Hage, Misha Glenny, Jim Harrison, A. L. Kennedy, Pasha Malla, Lisa Moore, A. F. Moritz, Eric Siblin, Karen Solie, and Ronald Wright. Anansi is also proud to publish the award-winning nonfiction series The CBC Massey Lectures. In 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011 Anansi was honoured by the Canadian Booksellers Association as “Publisher of the Year.”