I hope your summer has been unfolding beautifully despite living in a world that often seems to be teetering on the brink of insanity. We, as lovers of good books, are indeed so fortunate because we can always escape into the imaginary worlds of a fine book and regain our lost confidence in the human species.
During the spring and summer months, I completed a translation into English of a very singular book written in French by a professor at Laval University in Québec, dealing with poison as a means of getting rid of undesirable people. It was a truly fascinating experience, but the book needed a lot of work to come alive for an English-speaking public. My editor is convinced that I have done a very good job on that score.
The problem with people who commit murder through poison is that they are convinced they can get away with their infamous deeds because the method seems so discreet and the murderer seems so elusive. But scientific research into crimes has increased by leaps and bounds, and nowadays it is increasingly difficult for the poisoner to escape punishment. The book also deals with self-deluding, megalomaniac leaders who, impelled by a death wish and an insurmountable hatred of human life, drag all their gullible followers down into death with them by ordering them all to commit collective suicide. One of the most gruesome and tragic events of this kind was the self-inflicted deaths of a whole community of fanatical believers in the phony prophet, Jim Jones, in Guyana in the previous century. My translation of the original will be titled Toxic Tales, will be published by Mosaic Press in Canada, and will be presented at the very famous Frankfurt Book Fair in October.
My editor would also like to collaborate with a publishing house in France to print in French my recent book on the Nobel Prize winner, Elie Wiesel's fiction called Words of Witness, The Fiction of Elie Wiesel. The book has been selling really well in Canada and even in the U.S.A, because it gives people reasons for hope in an increasingly crazy and violent world. It rejects despair as a solution. It would be very easy for me to rewrite this book in French. If the project goes through, there will be many happy people on both sides of the Atlantic!
Enjoy what is left of the summer. It is the season one wants to hold on to most, and the one that seems to vanish most quickly. Be well and go safely.
My
fondest wishes to all of you,
Léonard
