Horsefly

Horsefly is a work of contemporary Québécois fiction exploring the boundaries between the human body and the natural world. Blending atmospheric nature writing with speculative tension, Mireille Gagné's novel addresses survival, transformation and environmental collapse. Translated into English by Pablo Strauss. Theodore’s world is shrinking. He cares for his grandfather, Émeril, whose dementia is increasingly tethered to a cryptic wartime past. Outside, a record-breaking heatwave has turned Quebec into a pressure cooker of domestic rage and inexplicable public violence. In the shadow of this heat dome, the horseflies have arrived: large, predatory, and unnervingly persistent. To understand the infection taking hold of the province, Theodore must accompany Émeril back to Grosse Île, a secret military base where, in 1942, a young entomologist was conscripted to develop the perfect biological carrier. Moving between the experimental horrors of the 1940s and a contemporary climate in crisis, Mireille Gagné’s novel is a visceral exploration of the predatory relationship between human violence and the natural world.