Deni ellis bechard, also known as denis yvan bechard british columbia is a canadianamerican novelist. Deni bechards first novel, vandal love, doubleday canada, 2006 won the 2007 commonwealth writers prize for the best first book in the entire british commonwealth. Bechard does a great job in exploring those concepts in his novel vandal love. Book one follows the giants line, exploring jude herves career. An astonishing novel of epic ambition, vandal lovewinner. His first novel, vandal love, won the 2007 commonwealth writers prize, both for the best first book in canada and for the best overall first book in the british commonwealth. He has been a fellow at macdowell, jentel, the edward albee foundation, ledig ho. He also authored cures for hunger, a memoir about growing up with his father who robbed banks. Cures for hunger, a memoir about his bank robber father selected as one of the best memoirs of 2012 by amazon. In 2007, deni bechards novel, vandal love, won the commonwealth writers prize for best first book, but the canadianamerican author was missing from the u. Jun 14, 2012 harvard book store is pleased to welcome deni y. See the complete profile on linkedin and discover denis. Native soil for the herve family is gaspesie, quebec, but the lure of les states draws away many despite the contempt of flinty patriarch herve herve. This dreamlike novel spans five generations in the lives of a frenchcanadian family of misfits.
May 15, 2012 vandal love is a breathtaking literary debut about the power of love to create and destroy. His fiction includes vandal love, winner of the 2007 commonwealth writers prize, into the sun, and, most recently, white. Phil klay, national book awardwinning author of redeployment deni ellis bechards into the sun is an ambitious novel that succeeds on all levels. Its a riveting mysterythriller that also probes deeper into the nature of war and the ways in which it attracts and transforms some people. Journey to the heart of the congo, a journalistic account of bonobo conservation in. Deni ellis bechard deni ellis bechard is the author of six previous books. Jan 08, 2008 vandal love ou perdus en amerique french paperback jan. Vandal love, winner of the commonwealth writers prize. January 2006 by milkweed editions, 352 pages first line.
Bechard for a discussion of his two recently released books, cures for hunger. It was a finalist for the 2009 combat des livres, broadcast on radiocanada. Bechard was living in montreal when he published his first novel, vandal love doubleday, 2006, about a frenchcanadian family that is divided by a genetic curse that makes the children either runts or giants. With his first book, the commonwealth prizewinning vandal love, deni ellis bechard reinvented the generational novel with innovative brilliance robert olen. Cures for hunger, a 2012 memoir about growing up with a father who robbed banks, and of bonobos and men that won the 2015. Haunted by a family that was impossible to grasp or let go is a passage used to describe isa, one of the central characters of deni bechards debut novel, vandal love, but it could just as easily apply to many of the other strange and tortured characters who populate the pages of bechards eerie and eloquent novel. Even when jude was a boy, his arms and legs bulged, his neck corded, his muscled gut humped beneath his chest. Read vandal love a novel by deni ellis bechard available from rakuten kobo. Strong beyond his years, he brought up even the last of his sons to fish and work the fields at a time when cod stocks were failing and farmland returning to. In his second novel, into the sun, he offered a ferociously intelligent and intensely gripping portrait of the expatriate community in kabul phil klay. Vandal love, a novel about the end of the frenchcanadian exodus commonwealth writers prize for best first book cures for hunger, a memoir about his father, who was a bank robber an indie next pick and selected as one of the best memoirs of 2012 by amazon canada. Dad, reckless and macho, was always beating people up and getting visits from the police.
Vandal love by deni ellis bechard overdrive rakuten. Deni bechard recently published empty hands, open arms. A family cursea genetic trick resulting from centuries of hardshipcauses the herv children to be born either giants or runts. Deni ellis bechard is the author of vandal love commonwealth writers prize for best first book. Bechards first novel, vandal love, doubleday canada, 2006 won the 2007 commonwealth writers prize for the best first book in the entire british commonwealth. Cures for hunger by deni ellis bechard, 978157317, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Vandal love, winner of the commonwealth writers prize for best first book. An astonishing novel of epic ambition, vandal lovewinner of the prestigious commonwealth writers prize for best first book in 2007follows generations of a unique frenchcanadian family across north america and through the twentieth century. Into the sun, winner of the midwest book award for literary fiction.
Page 47 though half his children were runts as if by biblical curse, herve herve remained proud. Of bonobos and men grand prize winner of the nautilus. Assigned to complete a family tree in school, deni begins to wonder why he doesnt know more. With his first book, the commonwealth prizewinning vandal love, deni ellis bechard reinvented the generational novel with innovative brilliance robert olen butler. Although vandal love was previously available in canada, france, and egypt, milkweed editions released the first u. Vandal love is a breathtaking literary debut about the power of love to create and destroy. His novel, vandal love, won the commonwealth writers prize, was selected for oprahs book clubs summer reading. An astonishing novel of epic ambition, vandal lovewinner of the prestigious commonwealth writers prize for best first. Cures for hunger and vandal love are his firstand simultaneous book length publications in the united states.
Cures for hunger, a memoir about his bank robber father an indienext pick, a selection for oprahs summer reading list, and one of the best memoirs of 2012 by amazon. Jul 20, 2015 tagged creative writing, cures for hunger, deni bechard, lesley university, memoir, mfa, michael anthony, vandal love published by michael anthony michael anthony is a massachusetts based writer and veteran of the u. In a subsequent book, deni bechard reveals, according to one. Deni ellis bechard is the author of seven previous books. Cures for hunger, a memoir about his father, who robbed banks. Born and raised in rural british columbia to frenchcanadian and america parents, deni y. Now, in his first memoir, bechard finds that it isnt. His articles, stories, and translations have appeared in a number of magazines and newspapers. Bechard tells a wideranging, spellbinding story of a family trying to create an identity in an unwelcoming landscape. Deni ellis bechards prose, at once lyrical and tight, is mesmerizing, with resonances of marquez, faulkner, and ondaatjeyet it is very much bechards own. His novel, vandal love 2006, won the 2007 commonwealth writers prize for best first book. Vandal love is a saga of family and history, love and isolation, strength and vulnerability, suffering and redemption. Of bonobos and men, winner of the nautilus book award for investigative journalism.
Of bonobos and men grand prize winner of the nautilus book award for investigative journalism. A family curse a genetic trick resulting from centuries of hardship causes the herve children to be born either giants or runts. Powerful, intimate, and compelling, bechard s novel will take your breath away. His fiction includes vandal love, winner of the 2007 commonwealth writers prize, into the sun, white, and, most recently, a song from faraway. Bechard was born in british columbia to french canadian and american parents, and grew up in both canada and the united states. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets.
He shows us how fiction meets and transforms history to become fiction again, how what seems farawayour fathers battles, ancient art, the people we loveis nearby, and how mystery continues to propel both our histories and our private lives. A song from faraway by deni ellis bechard overdrive. Deni bechard evokes a god of chaos rather than nurture or forbearance. Its an idea bechard explored in his debut novel vandal love, winner of the 2007 commonwealth prize for best first book. Bchards masterful debut sweeps through north america from rural early20thcentury quebec to an ashram in 21stcentury new mexico, following several generations of a frenchcanadian family in which children were born alternately brutes or runts. Even better than his simultaneously published memoir cures for hunger, bechards haunting first novel follows three generations that cant find a home in this world. Bechard is the author of cures for hunger, a memoir about growing up with his bank robber father, and vandal love, a novel that won the 2007 commonwealth writers. A family cursea genetic trick resulting from centuries of hardshipcauses the herve children to be born either giants or runts. At first, the authors portrait of his childhood in british columbia seems yet another snapshot of a dysfunctional family. Brigitte frase is a book critic in minneapolis and a member of the national.
Deni ellis bechard, also known as deni yvan bechard british columbia is a canadianamerican novelist. Tagged creative writing, cures for hunger, deni bechard, lesley university, memoir, mfa, michael anthony, vandal love published by michael anthony michael anthony is a massachusetts based writer and veteran of the u. A seasoned journalist, bechard is also the author of the novels vandal love, which received the 2007 commonwealth writers prize for best first book and was selected for oprahs book clubs summer reading list. Vandal love ebook by deni ellis bechard 97815718381. Deni ellis bechard follows generations of a unique frenchcanadian family across north america, and through the twentieth century, as they struggle to find their place in the world. Reportedly at work on a book about conservation in the congolese rainforest, the author clearly has ambitions as big as his talent, but readers of. Deni ellis bechard a family cursea genetic trick resulting from centuries of hardshipcauses the herve children to be born either giants or runts. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading vandal love. Vandal love, a novel about the end of the frenchcanadian exodus commonwealth writers prize for best first book. It received the commonwealth writers prize for best first book. He is the author of four books of nonfiction, including cures for hunger, recently released in trade paper, and three novels. In his second novel, into the sun, he offered a ferociously intelligent and intensely gripping portrait of the expatriate community in kabul phil kl. Vandal love isbn 97815710910 pdf epub deni bechard. From the author of into the sun and vandal love, acclaimed for prose thats both lyrical and gritty, able to evoke big emotions with.
A song from faraway by deni ellis bechard fantastic fiction. A mystically powerful novel about the quebec diaspora and creating identity in an unwelcoming landscape haunted by a family that was impossible to grasp or let go is a passage used to describe isa, one of the central characters of deni bechards debut novel, vandal love, but it could just as easily apply to many of the other strange and tortured characters who populate the pages of bechard. Kuei, a book of nonfiction that he cowrote about racism against first nations people in canada. See all 5 formats and editions hide other formats and editions. He has been a fellow at macdowell, jentel, the edward albee foundation, ledig house, the anderson center, and the vermont studio center, among others. His fiction includes vandal love, winner of the 2007 commonwealth writers prize, into the sun, white. Life is just too hard in a land where fish stocks are falling and. Montreal when he published his first novel, vandal love doubleday, 2006.
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