Touch (2011) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters edit see section history

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• Jeannot Boucher: Stephen's grandfather, and founder of the village of Sawgamet.
• Pierre Boucher: Stephen's father.
• Stephen Boucher: The main character of the book and its narrator, an Anglican priest who grew up in Sawgamet and has returned after many years' absence.
• Marie Boucher: Stephen's younger sister.
• Pearl Gasseur: The assistant foreman of the lumber company.
• Father Hugo: Sawgamet's Catholic priest.
• Father Earl: Sawgamet's Anglican priest.
• Martine DeBonnier: Stephen's grandmother, and the namesake for his middle daughter.
• Nathalie: Stephen's mother, and the namesake of his youngest daughter.
• Lawrence: Stephen's uncle, the son of a Native American of the village's first generation.
• Julia: Stephen's aunt, daughter of Rebecca and Franklin.
• Franklin DeBonnier: Martine's brother, and owner of Sawgamet's general store. Stephen's great-uncle.
• Rebecca: Jeannot and Martine's servant, who later marries Franklin. Stephen's great-aunt.
• Virginia: Stephen's cousin, daughter of Lawrence and Julia.
• Xiaobo: The Chinese servant of Jeannot and Martine, replacing Rebecca.
• Gregory: A Russian miner who stays in the mill with Jeannot and Martine during the long winter.
• Jonah Feed: The foreman of the rival Havershand lumber company.
• Flaireur: Jeannot's dog.

Quotes edit see section history

• “At night, he told us stories about his father, how Jeannot found gold and settled Sawgamet, and then the long winter that followed the bust. He told us about the qallupilluit and Amaguq, the trickster wolf god, about the loup-garou and the blood-drinking adlet, about all the monsters and witches of the woods. He told us about the other kinds of magic that he stumbled across in the cuts, how the sawdust grew wings and flew down men's shirts like mosquitoes, how one tree picked itself up and walked away from the sharp teeth of the saw. He told us about splitting open a log to find a fairy kingdom, about clearing an entire forest with one swing of his ax, about the family of trees he had found twisted together, pushing toward the sky, braided in love.”

• “When he came into the clearing there was a sudden stillness, a break in the snow. The house stood before him, glowing so brightly that for a moment he thought it was on fire. In each of the windows that he and Martine had purchased so dearly and had shipped to Sawgamet, Rebecca had placed an oil lantern, and it appeared as though she had lit every candle in the house. On another day, perhaps, Jeannot would have stopped to take in the burning brilliance of the house like a beacon in the snow, like standing in the midst of salvation, but with Martine in his arms, Jeannot did not pause. He burst through the door and ran into the house, not even acknowledging Franklin, who sat beside Rebecca on the settee. He carried my grandmother up the stairs, stripped off her clothes, and then slipped naked into bed beneath the covers with her, his body a torch to reignite her.”

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Canada: The story takes place in southwestern Canada, during the time of the Cariboo Gold Rush.
• Sawgamet: The mining village founded by Jeannot.
• Havershand: A mining village that springs up downriver from Sawgamet.
• Quesnellemouthe: The closest town to Sawgamet, where Jeannot and most of the other Sawgamet residents come from.
• Vancouver
• Edmonton
• San Francisco

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Buck: To cut a felled tree into shorter lengths.
• Peavey: Describe this term.
• Qallupilluit
• Loup-garou
• Adlet
• Wehtiko
• Mahaha
• Provenance
• Ijirait: A shape-shifter.
• Creel
• Farrier
• Settee
• Lee
• Spindrift
• Scrum
• Gloaming
• Faille
• Amaguq: A trickster wolf god.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Alexi Zentner (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Giller Prize (Finalist, 2011, Longlist)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 813.6

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Family Saga
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Genre Fiction › Historical