Miss Take

Teenagers Miles and Chateaugue have run away from home and soon form a suicide pact to preserve their fleeting innocence. Written in a style that echoes Arthur Rimbaud and William S. Burroughs, Réjean Ducharme's vision is darkly prophetic of a world that has lost its way, on which ?our lady of good help? only gazes with an inscrutable Mona Lisa smile.

Réjean Ducharme is one of Quebec's most influential authors, and also one of the province's enigmas: the man has not been seen in public for over a decade.

Will Browning is currently a professor of French literature at Boise State University.