Lead Review
- Book: The Bleeding
- Location: Paris, Québec
- Author: David Warriner (translator), Johana Gustawsson
The Bleeding is set in three periods in history, and in two far apart locations. 1899 Belle Epoque Paris, 1949 Post War Québec, and 2002 Quebec. But the different time periods and locations are all closely and sinisterly linked. The story is of three generations of the same family, and how they cannot escape from evil.
The book opens with a murder in 2002 Québec. A well loved professor is shot dead – and all indications point to his former schoolmistress wife being the perpetrator. But she closes down completely and will not talk to the police. We then go back to 1899 Paris where two young sisters are presumed dead in a fire that sweeps through their house. The bodies are never found. But Lucienne, the mother, is convinced they are still alive. The final time period is 1949 Québec. Lina’s father has died in the French Resistance and her mother, who works in an asylum, takes her to work with her and introduces her to an old lady who has a profound, and very negative impact, on her life.
Maxine, a detective in the Québec police, is in charge of the 2002 investigation. She has a personal interest in that the accused former schoolmistress used to teach her (and her daughter). Slowly Maxine makes a series of grisly discoveries that link the current case directly to historical ones involving black magic and murder. The more she probes, the more sinister and macabre everything becomes. The ending is truly distressing and frightening.
The Bleeding is not for the faint hearted. Johana, as we have seen in her previous works, Block 46, Keeper, and Blood Song, is brilliant at writing about areas that many would find hard to touch. In The Bleeding, blood and black magic go hand in hand with a frightening impact across generations.
The Bleeding is an excellently constructed and tightly written read. It is very well translated from the French by David Warriner.
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