Lady With Chains

by Roch Carrier

"In nineteenth-century Quebec a woman plots the murder of her husband after the death of their child. After brewing a poison, she is arrested, denounced as a witch, and in a devastating conclusion, released from her terrifying obsessions."

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Roch Carrier, OC is a Canadian novelist, playwright and author of "contes" (a very brief form of the short story). He is among the best known Quebec writers in English Canada.

From 1994 to 1997, he served as head of the Canada Council. In 1998, he ran as an electoral candidate for the Quebec Liberal Party under Jean Charest, in the riding of Crémazie. He was defeated by 309 votes.

In 1991, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. From 1999 to 2004, Carrier was National Librarian of Canada.

A quote from "Le chandail de hockey" ("The Hockey Sweater"), one of Carrier's contes, is reprinted on the back of the Canadian five-dollar bill.

Reviews

[Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's an anachronistic association, but the whole time I was reading this book (in translation) I kept thinking of Daniel Lanois' song "The Ballad of Maire Claire", which tells the tale of an obsessed man who kidnaps the object of his affection and takes her to Labrador to be his mate. There is no kidnapping in Carrier's novel, but the object of the male protagonist's affection (his name is Victor) is clearly possessed by someone or something else (her name is Virginie). I do not want to include any spoilers in this review, so suffice it to say that this story of obsession, mental illness, and the hardships of trying to carve out a life from scratch in the Quebec wilderness will not suit all tastes. It is not a long novel, but much of the action is interior, especially focused on the mental processes and visions of Virginie. The sheer hardship and drudgery of getting to and trying to inhabit the land, the terror and tedium of the inhumanly long and brutal Quebecois winter, and the toll these take on the human spirit are all expertly portrayed here, thus my high rating of this work.