Author: Sébastien Dulude
Translator: Pablo Strauss
Publisher: Coach House Books

This novel, set in Thetford Mines, Quebec, is described by the publisher as “Stand By Me meets Knausgaard: an explosive 1980s coming-of-age in a hardscrabble Quebec mining town.” The red bird is a significant symbol throughout the book, and also (if you squint) resembles the shape of many of the lakes at the bottom of some asbestos strip mines – which double as a playground for the protagonist and his best friend.