Sadie X by Clara Dupuis-Morency, translated by Aimee Wall

A story of scientific discovery, complicated by family, complicated by a codependent relationship with decades of history — that is Sadie X, by Clara Dupuis-Morency, and translated from the original French by Aimee Wall. This is a tense character sketch taking place over a series of a few weeks, Sadie’s contained life unspooling rapidly in ways she hadn’t imagined prior to a few chance decisions. After a cold childhood and a detour into philosophy — a disappointment to her physician parents — Sadie pivoted to virology, obtaining her PhD in the field, and a close personal and working relationship with the famed Régnier. Now in her fifties, Sadie lives in Marseilles, having followed Régnier there when he moved his lab to France. She studies giant viruses with him, she lives in her cheap apartment, she has a cast of friends she goes partying with, and her life is full — the family she cut ties with so easily forgotten.

However, Sadie is forced to confront her roots and the confusing, often banal memories of her childhood and life in Montreal when she gets a call from the hospital her father used to work at. A giant virus that Sadie and Régnier first discovered. Because Régnier won’t go, Sadie travels to Montreal to look at the virus – and come in contact with her past.

The tone of Sadie X is fascinating: often deadpan, serious, and clinical, it acquires a dreamy, detached quality whenever Sadie deals with her memories or her family, in their first meetings in years. Their estrangement is nothing terribly dramatic: Sadie left for Marseilles and simply stopped calling and visiting. And this is emblematic of the novel as a whole. Very little in Sadie’s life has been dramatic, merely quiet and easy consequences for her decisions. She was drawn to Régnier and has since spent decades working for him, arranging his life, and occasionally sleeping with him. I had the distinct feeling that life was something that sort of happened to Sadie, with little intervention on her part. This character study is fascinating, as is the discussion of giant viruses, which is based on the real work of the Genomics and Structural Information Laboratory at the Université Aix-Marseille.

Sadie X is interesting and also frustrating, as so many character studies are. Dupuis-Morency is subtle in her exploration here, and the story does require some sitting and pondering to think through Sadie’s life and choices to get the full weight. It was refreshing, once more, to look at the story of an older woman, and view her transformation over the novel.

Clara Dupuis-Morency was born in Quebec City and lives in Montreal. Her first novel, Mère d’invention, was a finalist for Prix des libraires du Québec, Prix du CALQ–Work by an Emerging Artist, and for the France-Québec prize, Les Rendez-vous du premier roman. She also works as a translator and is the mother of twin girls.

Newfoundland-native Aimee Wall is a writer and translator. Her essays, short fiction, and criticism have appeared in numerous publications, including Maisonneuve, Matrix Magazine, the Montreal Review of Books, and Lemon Hound. Wall’s translations include Vickie Gendreau’s novels Testament (2016), and Drama Queens (2019), and Sports and Pastimes by Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard (2017). Her acclaimed debut novel, We, Jane was nominated for nine literary prizes including the Amazon Canada First Novel Award, the BMO Winterset Award, the ReLit Award for Fiction, and the Scotiabank Giller Prize longlist. Wall lives in Montreal.

Publisher: Book*hug Press (October 10, 2023)
Paperback 5.25″ x 8″ | 240 pages
ISBN: 9781771668477

Alison Manley

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Alison Manley has ricocheted between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia for most of her life. Now in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she is the Cataloguing and Metadata Librarian at Saint Mary's University. Her past life includes a long stint as a hospital librarian on the banks of the mighty Miramichi River. She has an honours BA in political science and English from St. Francis Xavier University, and a Master of Library and Information Studies from Dalhousie University. While she's adamant that her love of reading has nothing to do with her work, her ability to consume large amounts of information very quickly sure is helpful. She is often identified by her very red lipstick, and lives with her partner Brett and cat, Toasted Marshmallow.