A Blanket Against Darkness

Deep in the Greenland, Nunavut and Quebec woods—both asphyxiating and oxygenating—unfold epic duels between man and nature. This first short story collection by emerging writer and poet Catherine Harton is finally available in English. In these Nordic woods where the ancestors called blowing snow the sweet breath of death, an artist fashions bewitching jewels out of feathers, a man of fifty-four corresponds with the author of a bottled message thrown out to sea, another awaits the onslaught of the storm to open wide his mouth and drink it whole. Nature flares its gills, in this book, where forgiveness is both sought after and offered.

A Blanket Against Darkness bursts with stories that spring from the earth. Its relic-filled landscapes, where one single movement can set off the migration of an entire colony, are constant reminders that one is never completely alone. Published by Marchand de feuilles in 2015, Traité des peaux was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Awards and for the Prix des Cinq continents de la Francophonie.

Published in English, translated from the original "Traité des peaux".