The novel centres on a large rural farm family in Quebec headed by domineering matriarch Antoinette,[1] and depicts their lives around the time of the birth of Emmanuel, the family's sixteenth child.[1] The novel focuses primarily on Emmanuel's teenage siblings Pomme, Héloïse, "Septième" (Fortuné-Mathias) and Jean-Le Maigre, who are all in some state of rebellion against the family order;[2] in its themes of moral and sexual transgression, the novel is part of the anti-terroir tradition in Quebec literature.
The novel was adapted for film by director Claude Weisz in 1972.
Awards
The novel won the Prix Médicis and the Prix Jean-Hamelin in 1976.
