{"product_id":"the-harmattan-winds-isbn-9781962770224","title":"The Harmattan Winds","description":"\u003cb\u003e“A fresh little novel, teeming with life, of uncommon strength.”\u003ci\u003e – \u003c\/i\u003eGilles Marcotte,\u003ci\u003e L’actualité\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eAn audacious and playful debut novel of adventure, brotherhood, and the search for a homeland — a contemporary classic of Quebecois literature\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWritten with uncommon wit, \u003ci\u003eThe Harmattan Winds\u003c\/i\u003e is a feast of wordplay, rife with puns and wonder – perfect for devotees of Ali Smith, classic adventure novels like \u003ci\u003eThe Adventures of Huckleberry, \u003c\/i\u003eand John Knowles’s \u003ci\u003eA Separate Peace.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHidden in the reeds floating on a pond next to the highway, a woman finds a baby bobbing in a shopping basket. Adopted by the Francoeurs, Hugues remains an outsider in his semi-family. At the same time, Habéké is adopted by a Canadian family and brought to Quebec after his own family dies of famine in Ethiopia. On the margins of their small town, the boys become sworn brothers, searching for their roots, desperate to return to exile, to a paradise called Ityopia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNarrated by the bold and imaginative voice of Hugues, Sylvain Trudel’s prize-winning debut novel is at times serious and at times fantastical. In their child’s world, where Hugues and Habéké haven’t yet learned the prejudices of adults, they embark on adventures, digging holes to China and building fantastical contraptions to take them to far off places, like their hero, explorer Roald Amundsen.\"[In \u003ci\u003eThe Harmattan Winds\u003c\/i\u003e] a series of law-and-life defying, tragi-comic capers echo Trudel's experience as a clown and writer of children's books . . . \u003ci\u003eThe Harmattan Winds\u003c\/i\u003e waited thirty-nine years to be translated . . . publication now feels timely, as it explores the consequences of emotional alienation and intercultural ignorance. In a world facing a perfect storm of challenges, \u003ci\u003eThe Harmattan Winds\u003c\/i\u003e reminds us that we have important choices to make.\" —Alice-Catherine Carls, \u003ci\u003eRain Taxi \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"This tale is told in what may at first seem like a foreign language, probably because it is—one as foreign as anything utterly original, unconstrained by rules or logic. Nonetheless, if you allow it to pour over you, or into you, it soon becomes as lucid as if it were actually your native tongue, the one you understood (and may have been doomed to forget) before you were even born.\" —Doon Arbus\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Sylvain Trudel has peerless insight into a child's speech, imagination, and supple sense of wonder. With \u003ci\u003eThe Harmattan Winds\u003c\/i\u003e, he has blessed us with the gift of childhood.\" —Stephen Sparks, \u003ci\u003ePoint Reyes Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Harmattan Winds\u003c\/i\u003e is a beguiling fairy tale of a book, indebted as much to Bellow’s \u003ci\u003eHenderson\u003c\/i\u003e as it is to the immortal Peter Pan, a slender novel of the great adventure that is growing up.\" —Rumaan Alam\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Harmattan Winds\u003c\/i\u003e was a wonderful surprise. It's a lovely book and also a little fierce. Full of provocative ideas and adventures, and that one-of-a-kind voice of Hugues is a constant delight . . . So vivid, so quirky, so oddly believable . . . a very endearing book.\" —Robert Plunket\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"An unusual coming-of-age tale imbued with undercurrents of magic, mystery, and tragedy . . . In the powerful novel \u003ci\u003eThe Harmattan Winds\u003c\/i\u003e, young men struggle against their circumstances, seeking connections with and acceptance from others.\" —Ho Lin, \u003ci\u003eForeword\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Canadian author Trudel’s debut novel, skillfully translated by Winkler . . adeptly interweaves intriguing African fables, provocative sociopolitical commentary, poetry, and armchair philosophy. This bildungsroman, underscored by a myriad of emotions, offers a portrait of two boys’ desperate longing to feel at home in the world and their search for identity and a place where they can be free of adult intervention and societal pressures.\" —Lillian Dabney, \u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"Lyrical and enigmatic . . . Trudel sustains a dreamy mood and brings his characters to vivid life. [\u003ci\u003eThe Harmattan Winds\u003c\/i\u003e] is a singular tale of trauma diverted into obsessive fantasy.\" — \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \"With the spirit of a fairy tale, yet at the same time grounded in small town Quebec (or Canada generally) in an age before video games, computers or many available television channels, this novella surges with energy . . . The magic of this coming of age tale rests firmly on the imagination, determination, and entirely idiosyncratic worldview of Hugues and Habéké . . . Fast-paced and original.\" — Joseph Schreiber Scofield, \u003ci\u003eRough Ghosts\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eSylvain Trudel \u003c\/b\u003eis  a French-Canadian writer of adult fiction and more than a dozen  children’s titles. He earned degrees in science and cinema and worked as  a clown, a cucumber picker, and a commercial analyst, before turning to  writing. His debut novel, \u003ci\u003eLe Souffle de l’Harmattan\u003c\/i\u003e (\u003ci\u003eThe Harmattan Winds)\u003c\/i\u003e,  won both the Prix Molson and Prix Canada-Suisse. His work has been  honored with the Prix Saint-Exupéry, Prix des libraires du Quebec, and  Prix Christie, and in 2007 his novel \u003ci\u003eLe Mer de la tranquilité\u003c\/i\u003e won the Governor General’s Prize. He lives in Quebec.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDonald Winkler \u003c\/b\u003eis  a documentary filmmaker and literary translator. He graduated from the  University of Manitoba in 1961. He has translated over forty works from  French, including novels, nonfiction, and poetry and has won the  Governor General’s Award for translation in 1994, 2011, and 2013. His  translations include work by Pierre Nepveu, Samuel Archibald, and Kevin  Lambert.","brand":"Archipelago","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305111081189,"sku":"NP9781962770224","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781962770224.jpg?v=1767739717","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-harmattan-winds-isbn-9781962770224","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}