Five new books on identity, history, and women's lives

Montreal's shelves just got five new releases worth attention this month.

"Nelly Arcan et le souffle du néant," by Jérémie McEwen, examines suicide through philosophy — but with a twist. McEwen, a philosophy professor, argues that thinkers from Socrates through Cioran approached the subject through toxic masculinity, seeking to triumph over nothingness. He uses Nelly Arcan's work (she wrote "Putain") as a counterpoint to explore the taboo differently, and in doing so, asks what life means.

Bochra Manaï's "Lettre d'amour à Baba" is a 20-year delayed response to her father's letter about their inability to communicate. She writes frankly about arriving in Montreal, her choices in love, her identity as an Arab Muslim woman, marriage's weight, and intimate ruptures her family never discussed. It's a testimony on identity between Tunisia, France, and Quebec — where, she writes, the St. Lawrence became "her" Mediterranean.

Louise Tremblay d'Essiambre's "Comme un goût de miel – Tome 2: Léandre" continues her historical trilogy launched this spring. The story picks up as Louis struggles through college while his grandparents support him against his grandfather Nadeau's schemes. The third tome arrives in early August.

Marie Vareille's "Nous qui avons connu Solange" is a multigenerational saga about four women across time. Celestine grows up on family land but wants education to escape farm life; Solange is locked in a school for "deviant" girls. Through their stories, Vareille addresses mental health and sexual violence.

Anne-Marie Duquette's "Il ne faut pas de si petites mains pour agripper la lumière" follows a young woman learning midwifery illegally, discovering unexpected bonds between women. After her finalist success with previous work, Duquette gives voice to a profession that has been criminalized.