Guano

It’s a quirky sort of historical fiction set in the mid-19th century, during the Spanish-Peruvian/Chilean War. Told in the third person omniscient, it mostly follows an unambitious ship’s recorder named Simon, who goes to Peru on what is called a scientific expedition, but is really an attempt (maybe) by Isabella II to reassert her power over her colonies. The language of the novel is extravagant; in contrast, Simon’s records of the trip, and of the political machinations between Spain and Peru are the opposite. Throughout, the tone of the book is sometimes mocking, sometimes ironic, rarely the grandiose descriptions you get in a tale of war. It’s a weird book - anything but your typical historical fiction, and unlike anything CH has ever published.

Winner of the Prix des Collegiens (2014), whose jury is composed by 800 college students.

Rhonda Mullins’s translation of Jocelyne Saucier’s And the Birds Rained Down was shortlisted for CBC Canada Reads (2015) and the Governor General’s Literary Award for French-to-English Translation (2013).