100 Days in Uranium City

Inspired by the stories her father told her, Dénommé sketches a portrait of a Northern mining town in the late 1970s. Shifts in the uranium mine last 100 days, then workers have two weeks to adjust to civilization before returning. The pay is good, the work is grueling but they can all be found drinking heavily on a Saturday night. Life is hollow, one shift at a time, waiting for the depletion of resources — natural or human. The book never loses focus of the main character as he struggles with his lifestyle choice. It is a quiet but powerful read, rendered in gorgeous pencil, like the dust of the mine revealing lives on the page. Nominated for the Bédélys Québec Prize 2017