The Girl Before, the Girl After is the story of a man who would rather remain anonymous. The boutique where he used to work has been condemned, and so has the house where he rented a room, torn down to make way for a luxury hotel. His demanding boss vows her love for him; then she fires him. The woman he loves – the much younger wife of a professor who dies in mysterious circumstances – has disappeared. Life holds many secrets, especially when, as in a game of chess, the pawn reaches the last row.

Louis-Philippe Hébert is the author of four novels, four collections of short stories, ten books of poetry (nine in French and one in English), four books of prose poetry, and a play. His work has been published widely in literary magazines and newspapers in Canada and internationally, and he has participated in many literary festivals and poetry readings in Canada and around the world. His poetry collection Le livre des plages won the Grand Prix Québecor du Festival de Poésie de Trois-Rivières and Vieillir won the Prix du Festival de Poésie de Montréal. He currently lives near Saint-Sauveur, Québec.

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Jonathan Kaplansky studied at Tufts University and Université de Paris III, receiving an MA in French Language and Literature from McGill University and an MA in Translation from the University of Ottawa. He has translated works by Annie Ernaux and Hélène Dorion.

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