Together by the Sea — Marie-Claire Blais

In the tenth and final instalment of the legendary Soifs cycle, Marie-Claire Blais invites all the agonies and joys of humanity to a party by the sea.

For her eighteenth birthday, Mai hosts a party on the unnamed island where her family lives, on the edge of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. But Mai's guests are not the only ones in attendance; Marie-Claire Blais has invited all of humanity here to consider what it means to be alive in this moment.

With the completion of the Soifs cycle, its architecture is revealed: Daniel, Mai's father and a writer; the children of Bahama Street who sing in Pastor Jeremy's church; the wealthy artists and famous poets; the refugees and ex-cons; the trans performers of the Porte du Baiser Saloon. From this core, vast circles emerge, examining in one breath the horrors of fascist regimes and the beauty of queer nightlife, embracing the America of mass shooters and the struggles for civil rights, and laying bare the tragedies that shook the 20th century and laid the foundation for the years to come.

Poetic and meditative, with language that rolls and crashes like the ocean itself, Together by the Sea sings with the complexity of all beings, good and evil, past and present, here and elsewhere, connecting us all in the same unique, pitiful, and grandiose humanity.