“Second-hand happiness” by Gabrielle Roy, love, setbacks and beauty – Libération

Reissue of the first novel by the French-speaking Canadian author born near Winnipeg. A dive into a working-class suburb of Montreal crossed by silhouettes in uniforms, the first enlisted men of 39-45.

In Distress and Enchantment, her autobiography, the Canadian novelist Gabrielle Roy (1909-1983) recounted her arrival in Montreal. She was returning from a two-year stay in Europe, and was awaited by a clear destiny: to resume her career as a single teacher in her native region, Manitoba, and to live with her beloved mother, Mélina, worn out by poverty. But the 30-year-old young woman, as war looms, launches into the unknown: to make a living from writing, knowing that she only has a handful of dollars left. Gabrielle Roy settles in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the Quebec capital, the working-class suburb of Saint-Henri. Good for him: the places inspired the setting of his first book, Second-hand happiness, published in 1945 and reissued today. The success is colossal. This urban novel and not rural as French-speaking works from Canada were often previously, made her famous. In the United States it also became a bestseller, the film rights were purchased while two years later the French translation won the Femina Prize. It is today a classic in Quebec.

Second-hand happiness is a pessimistic novel, marked by the persistent traces of the Great Depression of 1929 and then the anguish over the war taking place in Europe. It is between February and May 1940, Canada is