Madame Victoria (Biblioasis International Translation Book 24)

In 2001, a woman's skeleton was found in the woods overlooking Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital. Despite an audit of the hospital's patient records, a forensic reconstruction of the woman's face, missing-person appeals, and DNA tests that revealed not only where she had lived, but how she ate, the woman was never identified. Assigned the name Madame Victoria, her remains were placed in a box in an evidence room and, eventually, forgotten. But not by Catherine Leroux, who constructs in her form-bending Madame Victoria twelve different histories for the unknown woman. Like musical variations repeating a theme, each Victoria meets her end only after Leroux resurrects her, replacing the anonymous circumstances of her death with a vivid re-imagining of her possible lives. And in doing so, Madame Victoria becomes much more than the story of one unknown and unnamed woman: it becomes a celebration of the lives and legacies of unknown women everywhere. By turns elegiac, playful, poignant, and tragic, Madame Victoria is an unforgettable book about the complexities of individual lives and the familiar ways in which they overlap. In 2001, The Skeleton Of A Woman Is Found In The Woods Surrounding The [then] Royal Victoria Hospital In Montreal. Despite A Thorough Investigation Involving The Hospital's Records, A Reconstitution Of The Woman's Face, Several Missing Person Appeals, Dna Tests, And An Analysis Of The Deceased's Hair Revealing Where She'd Lived, And How She Ate, It Was Impossible To Find Out Who That Woman Was. She Was Dubbed Madame Victoria, Put Into A Box In An Evidence Room, And Once Again Forgotten.-- Catherine Leroux ; Translated From The French By Lazer Lederhendler. "In 2001, the skeleton of a woman is found in the woods surrounding the [then] Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. Despite a thorough investigation involving the hospital's records, a reconstitution of the woman's face, several missing person appeals, DNA tests, and an analysis of the deceased's hair revealing where she'd lived, and how she ate, it was impossible to find out who that woman was. She was dubbed Madame Victoria, put into a box in an evidence room, and once again forgotten."-- Provided by publisher Leroux is extremely well reviewed, and her last book with Lazer, The Party Wall, did very well. It was Shortlisted for the 2016 Giller Prize, was selected for Indies Introduce Summer/Fall 2016, and was winner of the Prestigious France-Qubec Prize & Nominated for the Qubec Bookseller’s Prize. The social awareness implications of the book, especially as relates to women and issues of violence, give it several sales angles to consider in 2018.