Twists of Fate

Twists of Fate: If by Chance and Destination Paradise combines volumes 6 and 7 of Michel Tremblay's acclaimed Desrosiers Diaspora series. In If by Chance, the great Ti-Lou, the famous She-Wolf of Ottawa, returns to Montréal after a fruitful career in the royal suite at the Château Laurier, where she welcomed diplomats and men of the world, politicians and ministers of worship. But in 1925 she packs up and sneaks off, her suitcases replete with savings. When she arrives at Windsor station, five possible fates await her, each with their share of risks and opportunities, of good and less good fortune. But in each of these lives, Ti-Lou will have to deal with more than mere chance; waiting for her at the crossroads are the blade of loneliness and, worse still, the fear of allowing herself to be loved. In Destination Paradise, set in 1930, we enter the Paradise Club, one of the few places that caters to “confirmed bachelors.” Precocious despite his young age, Édouard is carried away by the story of la Duchesse de Langeais, which he has just read in Balzac’s eponymous novel. Of course we already know that Édouard will become the undisputed queen of the Montréal drag scene, but we knew less about his beginnings in life. Destination Paradise narrates Édouard’s rite of passage.