Hidden in the reeds floating on a pond next to the highway, a woman finds a baby bobbing in a shopping basket. Adopted by the Francoeurs, Hugues remains an outsider in his semi-family. At the same time, Habรฉkรฉ is adopted by a Canadian family and brought to Quebec after his own family dies of famine in Ethiopia. On the margins of their small town, the boys become sworn brothers, searching for their roots, desperate to return to exile, to a paradise called Ityopia. Narrated by the bold and imaginative voice of Hugues, Sylvain Trudelโs prize-winning debut novel is at times serious and at times fantastical. In their childโs world, where Hugues and Habรฉkรฉ havenโt yet learned the prejudices of adults, they embark on adventures, digging holes to China and building fantastical contraptions to take them to far off places, like their hero, explorer Roald Amundsen. Trudel writes with uncommon wit, and The Harmattan Winds is a feast of wordplay, rife with puns and wonder โย perfect for devotees of Ali Smith, classic adventure novels like The Adventures of Huckleberry, and John Knowlesโs A Separate Peace.
We are very grateful to the Quรฉbec Government Office in New York for supporting this title.