Of Vengeance by J.D. Kurtness, TP $17.99
As many of you know from years past, I am often the enforcer of the rules when it comes to these selections. (Editors note: He is ruthless! SB) As a result, I found myself in a very difficult position when I suggested to Wendy that I sort of had two books that I wanted to have a tie: Innu author J.D. Kurtness' delightful little debut about a female sociopath Of Vengeance, and Rotherweird, Andrew Caldecott's genre-bending, modern fantasy novel about a historian hired to replace a vanished predecessor in an isolated English town. In fact, right up until publication of this newsletter I wavered back and forth. In the end however, I have decided I'll tell you all more about Rotherweird when it comes in paperback in May, because Of Vengeance is something that I think is truly unique to current Canadian crime fiction.
Originally in French as De Vengeance, Kurtness' debut caught me first with its well designed cover and a great jacket quotation "Let's Be Honest: who hasn't fantasized about Shooting Someone in the Face with a Hunting Rifle?" because of a book that I was reading for Bloody Scotland with similar themes To Live With What You Are by Charlie Gracie, a book that I have been actively failing to get into our shop. What struck me when I picked it up was that like the Gracie, this was a book that built an intense and intimate portrait of a character who is openly violent, and would be what we would likely refer to as evil. That both of these authors could accomplish this was interesting, but to me, that Kurtness' prose could do so in translation (excellently done by Pablo Strauss), has made me upset once again about my failures as a French reader.
The other thing about Of Vengeance is that it was a book that simultaneously drove me to read it while also demanding that I take my time in doing so. It is a slight volume, but one that creates visceral scenes full of detail and power. For an author to be able to do that in her debut is something that is worth celebrating, and while my own endorsement does not quite match the awards that it already has won, the 2018 Indigenous Voices Award for Prose in French, for example, I hope that by highlighting this book, I can encourage more people to take a chance on this dark, spectacular book.