Catherine Mavrikakis - Written as a long soliloquy, this novel is a delirious howl, an expectoration in the face of the world, a dolorous dive into the depths of identity. Is it possible to emancipate oneself from one's tragedies, from the the individuals that have touched our lives and have died?

Catherine Mavrikakis, Flowers of Spit, Trans. by Nathanaël, BookThug, 2011.


FLOWERS OF SPIT is a corrosive narrative that surrounds the inflamed character of Flore Forget. Written as a long soliloquy, this novel is a delirious howl, an expectoration in the face of the world, a dolorous dive into the depths of identity. Is it possible to emancipate oneself from one's tragedies, from the the individuals that have touched our lives and have died? Is it possible for flowers to bloom from cinders and spit? Filled with a vitriolic rage that teeters between despair and redemption, this work propels us into the memories inherent to scorched flesh. It is an implacable story, one propelled by a raw, breathless style that strikes us where it hurts the most.




Catherine Mavrikakis was born in 1961 in Chicago and has lived all her life in Montréal. She is the author of five novels, an essay, and an oratorio, Omaha Beach (2008). Her most recent book, Le Ciel de Bay City (2009), published in Québec and in France and which earned her the Grand Prix de la Ville de Montréal, Le Prix littéraire des Collégiens and the Grand Prix des Libraires du Québec. Her most recent work published in English, FLOWERS OF SPIT, translated by Nathanaël, appeared in 2011. A CANNIBAL AND MELANCHOLY MOURNING, also translated by Nathanaël, was published in English in 2004.