An enthralling shell-game of a novel, in which past and present speak to each other to create a brilliant whole from three distinct parts, and merits comparison to the likes of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas and Peter Carey's Oscar and Lucinda . On May 8, 1902, the entire city of Saint Pierre, Martinique - "the Paris of the Caribbean" - was destroyed when Mount Pelée erupted. Except for one man: Baptiste Cyparis had been in a dungeon-like prison cell that morning. When he emerged, it was as if to the end of the world. Eventually, he would be known as The Man who Survived Doomsday, and become the first black man to star in Barnum & Bailey's circus. In those same years, on the other side of the Atlantic, an English mathematician and his beloved, a musician, seek to explain the hidden rules that govern the movements of the earth, and discover "Love waves." A century later in contemporary Montreal, two strangers come to know each other in a garden seeded with trees and crosses on the side of the mountain, witnessed only by a large dog and the pulsing city that surrounds them. Her second novel richly displays Dominique Fortier's extraordinary literary skill, wit, and poetry, her ability to weave disparate threads into a golden tapestry that surprises, delights, and begs to be re-read the moment the final page is turned.

Praise for Dominique Fortier and her debut novel On the Proper Use of Stars : "Captivating . pulses with adventure and originality. Fortier is a gifted new voice in fiction." -- National Post "Truly fresh . Fortier's sardonic humour and ability to gently mock her characters while endearing them to her readers brings to mind Jane Austen." -- The Gazette (Montreal) "Enthralling." -- Chatelaine "Rich and clever . limpid and incisive .

poetic and elegiac about the lost and those left behind." -- Winnipeg Free Press "Inspired by a story we thought we knew, [Dominique Fortier] creates a unique and brilliant tale that navigates skilfully between dread and dream." -- Nicolas Dickner, author of Nikolski "[Fortier] makes all the constellations of her stellar talent sparkle: her eclectic culture, her irresistible imagination, her playful sense of humour. A shimmering hall of mirrors." - L'actualite.