Author Interview Andrée A. Gratton

4/27/2021

How does delusion inspire author Andrèe A. Gratton?
Let's find out...

Hi! My name is crystal fletcher and welcome to this week’s episode of all about canadian books. I’m very excited to have Quebec author Andrèe A. Gratton and translator, Ian Thomas Shaw as guests.

Andrèe A. Gratton studied philosophy and classical studies in Montreal, Berlin and Strasbourg. She teaches philosophy in Montreal and loves swimming in cold water (I had to ask her about this)!

Ian Thomas Shaw is a novelist, translator, editor, former Canadian diplomat and development officer who has lived in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Ian speaks English, French, German, Spanish and some Arabic.

We discussed Andrèe's award-winning debut novel Choosing Eleonore which was published by Guernica Editions and Editions de la Pleine Lune, in French.

Choosing Eleonore tells the story of a one-way friendship. It explores the delusion of being loved. This is Marianne's story. Marianne is obsessed with Eleonore. From the first sentence..."Long before we met, Eleonore was dreaming of me. Not me with this hair, these two hands or the sound of my voice. No. Of me as a friend, an ideal friend," we feel that something is wrong in her perception of reality.

But who is this Eleonore, whom Marianne had never spoken to? What is so fascinating about her? Neither humiliation, rebuffs, rejection will disabuse Marianne of her certainty of being loved by Eleonore.

I was SO intrigued by both Marianne and Eleonore. To find out more about these women you'll have to read Choosing Eleonore.