Catherine Leroux on the special bond between siblings

Quebec writer Catherine Leroux's novel-in-stories The Party Wall won recognition in both France and Quebec. The English version is a finalist for the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and the translator, Lazer Lederhendler, won the Governor General's Literary Award for translation (French to English). 

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I find that in literature, sibling relationships are a kind of love that is underestimated or underexposed. It's all about romantic love or parent-child love, but we don't see so many books about these great love affairs between two sisters. And yet it's such a fundamental relationship. Only a brother or sister can know the conditions in which we were raised. I have one younger sister, and we were always very close. I thought about her a lot while I was writing the book — there's nothing in the book that's anywhere close to our life, but she's very important to me. That bond that we have is one of the most important in our lives. 

Catherine Leroux's comments have been edited and condensed.