Everything is Ori

The Lelarge family quietly runs its little seafood empire from Quebec’s North Shore. But when an elegant visitor is dispatched by a mysterious Japanese conglomerate to their isolated fishing village, things will never be the same again. Because Mori Ishikawa has a secret invention: Ori. And it’s destined to change the course of human history.ABOUT THE AUTHORPaul Serge Forest was born in 1984. He grew up on Quebec’s North Shore and now lives in Montreal, where he practices medicine. Everything is Ori is his first novel. The French version of the novel won the Prix Robert-Cliche in 2021, Quebec’s most prestigious first-novel award.ABOUT THE TRANSLATORDavid Warriner grew up in the UK and escaped to Quebec right after graduating from Oxford. A professional translator for nearly two decades, David nurtures a healthy passion for Quebec fiction and has translated a range of fiction, nonfiction, and children’s fiction titles by Quebec authors for Canadian and UK publishers.Winner, Robert-Cliche Award for best first novelWinner, Prix d’excellence des Écrivains francophones d’AmériqueFinalist, Governor General’s Award for French-language fictionFinalist, Prix des libraires du QuébecFinalist, Prix littéraire des collégiensFinalist, Radio-Canada’s Combat des livresLonglisted, Prix Orange du Livre (France)“One of the best Quebec novels of the past ten years . . . already a must-read in Quebec literature. The first thing that struck me when I finished Everything is Ori was how polished it was. I could barely believe a debut author could steer such a solid novel to completion, a novel that features the most tightly woven of intrigues driven by a remarkably complex cast of surprising characters.” (Annabelle Moreau, Prix Robert-Cliche jury member, editor Lettres québécoises magazine)“The most daring reading experience of the year.” (Le Devoir)“Everything is… mindblowing!” (Josée Boileau, Journal de Montréal)“Wow! The Prix Robert-Cliche is awarded to a debut novel . . . and for once this year the jury was unanimous in voting Everything is Ori the winner. Reading this irresistible, indefinable game-changer of a story, you can see why.” (Iris Gagnon-Paradis, ★★★★ La Presse)“Paul Serge Forest’s dazzling debut novel crushes the competition . . . This book is a rare and precious literary happening . . . Well written, impressively put together, and remarkably inventive.” (Thomas Dupont-Buist, ★★★★★ Lettres québécoises magazine)“a playful, absurd world, somewhere between the Coen brothers, John Irving, and 1990s Japanese video games.” (Anne-Frédérique Hébert-Dolbec, Le Devoir)“Buckle up for a wild read! This unexpected novel is a breath of fresh air. It’s intelligent, surprising, delicious (and sometimes a little gross). Ori gets under your skin… and changes everything. A real treat!” (Shannon Desbiens, Les Libraires magazine)