Guernica Editions

Pan Bouyoucas and Sheila Fischman (Translator)

Portrait of a Husband with the Ashes of His Wife addresses themes of destiny and the repercussions of our choices. Before she dies, actress Alma Joncas instructs her husband to bury her ashes where she was happiest. He decides that was their garden. But relatives, friends and Alma's colleagues disagree. After they tell him where they think she was happiest, not only is he no longer sure about the garden, he wonders if he truly knew the woman he was married to for twenty-four years.

Alma Joncas was one of the most acclaimed, the most venerated actresses in all Quebec. Until the day she turned fifty.