Under the Stone (Sous Beton)

Fiction. Translated from the French by Jacob Homel. From birth, the child was locked away in a minuscule cell, at #804 of level 5969 of the Edifice. Around him... only concrete, without a view of the outside world. And two people: the tyrannical father, slowly killing himself; and the mother, fearing eviction. Unmoving in his roost, the child's life will be disrupted by a transformation that will reveal an unexpected horizon.

A unique literary exercise that can't be solely described as a traditional dystopian novel. Indeed, a disturbing strangeness worms its way throughout, a strangeness that could be at home in a fantasy novel, a realist psychological work, a poetic experience. Perhaps Karoline Georges has in fact created a new genre, the claustrophobic novel, but she demonstrates that despite whatever constraints are put on her work, a writer can create the most peculiar worlds through the singular strength of her imagination.--Chantal Guy, La Presse

Echoes of George Orwell's 1984 are heard throughout this excellent novel with its style as cold and dark as whatever lies under the stone...--Lisanne Rhéault-Leblanc, 7 jours