“The seven quirky stories in Gisèle Villeneuve’s new collection, Rising Abruptly,all have mountains at their heart…. The characters’ relationship with mountains evolves throughout the stories, creating an arc that models a romantic relationship: infatuation, the conflict between independence and commitment, and the acceptance of love coupled with death. Rising Abruptly is a literary ode to climbers and the mountains that captivate them, and presents a fascinating portrait of passion for the high peaks.”
“Sept nouvelles impressionnantes, écrites dans une langue irréprochable, qui donnent — ou ne donnent pas — envie d’affronter les toits du monde.”
# 5 on Edmonton Fiction Bestsellers list, April 23, 2017
“Mountain climbing is a metaphor in the stories found in her new collection, Rising Abruptly, which use form, language, and narrative to deal with raw emotions like fear, love, and passion… Villeneuve’s stories convey to readers a sense of the dual nature of the mountains, which are at once hard, difficult, and intimidating, but also fragile. In fact, it is precisely the juxtaposition of two opposites that often fuels Villeneuve’s writing.”
Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction, Canada
Winner
Banff Mountain Book Competition – Mountain Fiction & Poetry, Canada
Winner
Alberta Book Publishing Awards, Trade Fiction, Canada
Winner
