Page 34 - Trillium Book Awards 2021, ONTARIO CREATES

Trillium Book Award
Finalist
Danièle Vallée
Sept nuits dans la vie de Chérie
Éditions David
Clarisse, a dressmaker to all appearances with no history, is leading a peaceful existence when Éva, an ambitious young actor, orders an extravagant dress for her first role in a highly-anticipated play, Sept nuits dans la vie de Chérie, in which she wants to dazzle everyone.
Over the course of meetings and fittings, the relationship between the two women becomes closer
and more meaningful. At first friendly and then exhilarating, that relationship becomes increasingly complicated as Éva continues her surprises and ambushes. During the seven nights that will she spend at Éva’s place, Clarisse discovers what is really hiding behind the actor.
Inspired by her eight paintings by artist Suzon Demers, in this work, author and storyteller Danièle Vallée weaves a mystifying plot featuring a one-of-a-kind prima donna who impetuously takes an everyday dressmaker along in a tumultuous and unpredictable adventure.
Danièle Vallée has lived in Ottawa for more than 30 years and is a recognized figure in literature, both written and verbal, and in the performing arts. She has written 10 books and also produced her works for the stage, giving them an astonishing artistic dimension accentuated by a variety of music. She has put on more than 200 public performances of her shows on a variety of Canadian stages, from Winnipeg to Moncton through Sudbury, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.
Jury Comment: Truly a delight for the senses, Sept nuits dans la vie de Chérie is a novel that takes the reader into the world of fashion deign. Danièle Vallée so sumptuously embroiders that world that the reader sometimes can mix up the texture of the page with that of a tulle or taffeta dress. Besides her whirlwind style, the author gives us New Orleans characters with complex psychologies. She skilfully explores the effects of being spellbound with desire and the insidious way friendship can sometimes end up in manipulative, dark and sordid games. Inspired by the paintings of Suzon Demers, Sept nuits dans la vie de Chérie is a rich and disconcerting novel in which substance and form are woven together deliciously.
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