Choosing Eleonore tells the story of a one-way friendship, of tragic loneliness. In it, award-winning Quebec author Andrée A. Gratton explores the syndrome of the delusion of being loved. Centred on two young women: Eleonore and Marianne, this is Marianne's story. From the first sentence, we feel that something is wrong in her perception of reality. "Long before we met, Eleonore had been dreaming of me," she says. But who is this Eleonore, whom Marianne had never spoken to? What is so fascinating about her? Neither humiliation and rebuffs nor rejection will disabuse Marianne of her certainty of being loved by Eleonore.

Andrée A. Gratton was born in Arivida in 1980. She currently lives in Montreal and is a philosophy professor at Collège Maisonneuve.Choisir Élénore , originally published in French, is her first novel.

Andrée Gratton's profile page

Ian Thomas Shaw is the author of two novels: Soldier, Lily, Peace and Pearls (DeuxVoiliers Publishing) and Quill of the Dove (Guernica Editions). Choosing Eleonore (Guernica Editions 2021) is his first translation from French to English. Shaw was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. For 34 years, he worked as a diplomat and as an international development worker, living in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. He currently lives in Aylmer, Quebec. He is also the founder of Deux Voiliers Publishing, the Prose in the Park Literary Festival and the Ottawa Review of Books.

Ian Thomas Shaw's profile page

In a way we are Marianne as we read. Her delusion, in fact, makes her uneasily relatable, an everywoman. This is at least partly to do with Gratton’s spare, tender and utterly convincing style, and Ian Thomas Shaw’s lucid translation. As for the rest, some human mysteries can only be experienced, not explained.

Ottawa Review of Books