Set at the turn of the 19th century, The Little Thief is a historical novel about Anton Chekhov’s trip to the French Riviera to soothe his ailing lungs. It’s the story of missed encounters, train romance, and a playwright’s passion, where Chekhov struggles to reveal the secrets of his art to an eager young writer…and the depth of his love for the beautiful Olga Kniper. The master will bestow words of wisdom on the young scribbler: “All those fires blazing inside you!… Become a hunter of the good and beautiful… Latch on to the aura of the least object… Be awkward and insolent!… Write often and every day… Write as though you’re in a dream, an intense and continuous delirium…” Punctuated by an exchange of letters, the adventure takes us from Melikhovo, to Paris, to the French Riviera and to Chekhov’s White Dacha by the Black Sea, providing an intimate and moving portrait of the great Russian writer.

An actor, playwright and translator, Robert Lalonde is one of Quebec’s leading novelists. Seven Lakes Further North was a finalist for the 1993 Governor General’s Award for French fiction. His previous novels published in translation by Ekstasis Editions include The Ogre of Grand Remous, The Devil Incarnate, One Beautiful Day To Come and The Whole Wide World.

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A writer, translator, researcher and communications specialist, Jean-Paul Murray has translated ten books, including Betsi Larousse and Cowboy, novels by Governor General’s Award winner Louis Hamelin, The Biker Who Shot Me, by Michel Auger, and I Was a Killer for the Hells Angels, by Pierre Martineau. From 1995 to 1998, Mr. Murray was managing editor of Cité libre, a magazine founded by Pierre Trudeau, and was the magazine’s English translating coordinator from 1998 to 2000. Among his Cité libre translations are works authored by Allan Cairns, Jacques Hébert, Mordecai Richler, F. R. Scott, and Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

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