YVES BEAUCHEMIN is a mordant social satirist and one of the most pre-eminent writers of his generation. His novels include Charles the Bold, The Waitress of the Café Cherrier, and The Alley Cat, which was a bestselling novel. He is also a children’s book writer. WAYNE GRADY is the author of fourteen books of science and natural history and the editor of six anthologies of short stories. His translations of Daniel Poliquin’s Black Squirrel and Francine D’Amour’s Return from Africa were shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award, and he is the winner of the John Glassco Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation. He lives near Kingston, Ontario, with his wife, novelist Merilyn Simonds.