What I Know About You by Éric Chacour, translated by Pablo Strauss
A novel following one family in Cairo and Montreal
A heartbreaking tale of a family and an impossible love, torn apart by secrets and traditions in late-20th-century Cairo.
In a tight-knit Levantine Christian family in 1960s Cairo, Tarek's entire life is written in advance. He'll be a doctor like his father, marry, and have children. Under the watchful eye of the family's strong women, he starts to do just that – until a patient's son, Ali, enters his life and turns it upside down. The two men's unsayable relationship sparks a series of events as dramatic as the Six-Day War and assassination of President Anwar Sadat playing out in the background.
The turn of the millennium finds Tarek living as a doctor in Montreal. Someone is writing about him and to him, piecing together a past he wants only to forget. But who is the writer of this tale? And will Tarek figure it out in time?
From Cairo's grand boulevards and hidden alleys to Montreal's grim winter, from the reign of Nasser to the early 2000s, What I Know About You tells the heartbreaking story of a family torn apart by an epic love. (From Coach House Books)
What I Know About You was on the respective shortlist for the 2024 Giller Prize and the 2024 Atwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize. It is on the longlist for Canada Reads 2025. The final five books and the panellists who chose them will be revealed on Jan. 23, 2025.
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Chacour is a Montreal-based writer who was born to Egyptian parents and grew up between France and Quebec. He previously worked in the financial sector. What I Know About You is his first book and was a bestseller in its French edition, winning many awards, including the Prix Femina.
Pablo Strauss has translated 12 works of fiction, several graphic novels and one screenplay. He was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award for translation for The Country Will Bring Us No Peace, Synapses and The Longest Year. His translation of Le plongeur by Stephane Larue (The Dishwasher in English) won the 2020 Amazon First Novel Award. He lives in Quebec City.
Interviews with Éric Chacour
