Quebec books claimed high ground in 2018, from Beirut to the Townships

It was a very good year for Quebec books. Newcomers crashed the scene, trusted names were in top form, and translations bridged the language gap with a frequency and speed seldom seen. Here, in no special order, is a genre-spanning selection of 2018 highlights. 
In Rawi Hage’s fourth novel Beirut Hellfire Society (Knopf Canada), a second-generation undertaker makes his jaded but clear-eyed way through a war-ravaged city, serving the loose-knit titular community whose unconve