In the stifling heat of summer in a northern Canadian mining town, Marie, a young teacher, is fascinated by her new friend Corrine, a waitress who is determined to squeeze every drop of experience and sensation from life.As summer ends, Marie marries an immigrant from Eastern Europe. She has chosen Ervant because she senses — or hopes — that despair will not defeat him as it has the men who spent their lives working for the mine. This is the first volume in the False Pretenses trilogy, which is continued in Affairs of Art and An Appropriate Place.

The superb final volume of The False Pretenses trilogy, full of wit and unflinching observation.

An art critic dies alone, leaving only a letter to a former lover about the women and men he has loved. But it's a letter that discloses too much — a final lifting of imposture that must nevertheless remain concealed. Affairs of Art, both tender and harsh, tells the story of Francois Dubeau, a man born from nothing in Montreal's east end. He gradually explores the world outside Quebec, his yearning for knowledge, experience, and love creating for him a singular course leading to prominence in the art world, but ultimately to death.Tightly structured and carefully written, Affairs of Art weaves together the idea of imposture, the link between pain and art, the question of what is of lasting importance in art and in life, and the process of becoming as well as dying. This is the second volume in Lise Bissonette's False Pretences trilogy.

From the acclaimed author of Following the Summer and Affairs of Art come these stories that convey the betrayal that accompanies every love story, seek to dispel all illusion, and recommend malice as state of grace. In the end vengeance emerges — hot, velvety, coursing with passion and blood, and, surprisingly, capable of forging the most lasting ties between people.