A fifteenth-century portrait painter, grieving the untimely death of his unrequited love, takes refuge at the monastery at Mont Saint-Michel, an island off the coast of France. He haunts the halls until the monks assign him the task of copying manuscripts – though he is illiterate. His work heals him and grows the monastery's library into a beautiful city of books, all under the shadow of the invention of the printing press.
Dominique Fortieris an editor and translator living in Montreal. She is the author of five books, includingOn the Proper Use of StarsandWonder.
Rhonda Mullinsis an award-winning translator and writer living in Montreal, Quebec.
Galleys available (inc. at BEA & ALA)
National advertising: Publishers Weekly, World Literature Today
National radio tour: outreach to CBC Radio Q, NPR Books/All Things Considered
National print campaign: outreach toWorld Literature Today, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, The New York Times, Kirkus, The Believer, The Paris Review, New York Times Sunday Book Review, The Globe & Mail, The Guardian
Online/social media campaign: outreach to Flavorwire, Papermag, Huffington Post, Fiction Advocate, Numero Cinq, Asymptote, Dazed, Three Percent, Open Letters Monthly, Conversational Reading
3-city national tour
Excerpts in: Electric Literature, Open Letter
Open to bookseller contest/giveaways
Outreach to librarians and antiquarian book societies‘[Fortier’s] sensuous prose, rendered with perfect smoothness by Mullins, is always a pleasure in itself, and she lets the historical parallels and affinities… emerge organically. The result is a seductive love letter to reading, to books, and to the creative impulse.’
—Montreal Gazette
Everything Happens as It Does|Albena|Stambolova|9781934824849|12.95|Open Letter|l“"
![The Island of Books [Paperback]](/itemImage/2/4/3/0/2_466994.jpg "The Island of Books [Paperback]")