Storied Streets: Montreal in the Literary Imagination

Montreal – an island at the confluence of two rivers, adorned with an unspoiled mountain at its centre has been the inspiration of poets, novelists, playwrights, and memoirists since the time of Cartier and is the only city in the world with a flourishing literary tradition in English and French. Its landscape, history, and cultures have been immortalized by Hugh MacLennan, Gabrielle Roy, Mordecai Richler, Michel Tremblay, Yves Beauchemin, and scores of others; the characters of Duddy Kravitz, Athanase Tallard, Florent Boissonneault, The Fat Woman Next Door, and Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne have rooted themselves in the imagination of countless readers.

Storied Streets is an illustrated celebration of this rich heritage, in which the reader is lead by authors Demchinsky and Naves through the history and literary byways of Montreal’s neighbourhoods, from their beginnings to the present, with evocative passages from favourite books helping to paint the scene. With its arresting and rare archival photographs, Storied Streets is an irresistible treasure for bibliophiles everywhere.