In October 1970, FLQ terrorists kidnapped a British
diplomat in Montreal and held him hostage for fifty-nine days. More
than thirty years later, the story continues to reverberate, and a
Montreal family is at a crossroads. The three members of the Lévesque family each have
their own private struggles. Luc Lévesque is a celebrated Quebec writer,
revered as much for his novels about the working-class neighbourhood of
Saint-Henri as for his separatist views. But this is 2001. The dreams
of a new nation are dying, and Luc is increasingly dissatisfied with his
life. Luc’s wife, Hannah, has worked faithfully as his translator for
years, yet she is also the daughter of a man who served as a special
prosecutor during the October Crisis, and she has distanced herself from
her English-speaking family. Hugo, their troubled fourteen-year-old
son, has been living in the shadow of a larger-than-life father and is
struggling with his own identity. In confusion and anger, he commits a
reckless act that puts everyone around him on a collision course with
the past.
My October examines issues of history, language, and cultural identity amid the ethnic and linguistic diversity of today’s Montreal. Inspired in part by two real-life figures from Quebec’s past—James Richard Cross, the British diplomat who was held captive by FLQ terrorists, and Jacques Lanctôt, the man who was Cross’s captor—this is also a story about the province’s turbulent history and ever-shifting role within the country at whose heart it lies.
Weaving together three unique voices, Rothman has created a masterful tale of a modern family torn apart by the weight of history and words left unsaid.
