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In 1920s Montreal, 75 parishoners die one terrible night at the hands of an arsonist. Among the survivors are Remouald, whose nightmarish, repressed childhood memories cause him constant turmoil; Séraphon, his invalid father who holds a self-destructive secret; and schoolteacher Clémentine Clément, who obsesses in solitude over past tragedies, unrequited passions, and the grim suspicion that something is woefully amiss with a group of young boys in her class. Gaétan Soucy applies his trademark vivid language, bracing wit, and fearless insight to this compelling story of horror and hope. "In Montreal in the 1920s, in the working-class parish of the Nativite, seventy-five residents died during one terrible night at the hands of an arsonist. The surviving parishioners must now cope with the aftermath of the felony. Among them are Remouald Tremblay, a seemingly simple-minded bank clerk who spends his days caring for Seraphon, his invalid father, while trying to ward off the nightmarish memories of his childhood; and schoolteacher Clementine Clement, who struggles in solitude to keep from going mad in spite of past tragedies, unrequited passions, and the obsessive suspicion that something is terribly amiss with a group of boys in her class."--BOOK JACKET. East-end Montreal in the mid-1920s. A popular restaurant is razed by an arsonist. Seventy-five people perish in the inferno. While strolling with his wheelchair-ridden father, a man furtively salvages a charred icon from the ruins. He is Remouald Tremblay, a self-effacing bank clerk whose pocket holds a treasured rabbit's foot and whose memory contains an unspeakable hell. Originally published in 1994 as L'Immaculee conception, this is the novel that established Gaetan Soucy as a powerful new literary force in Quebec. In it, he echoes the writing of Edgar Allan Poe and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Immaculate Conception was shortlisted for the Giller Prize in 2006.

In 1920s Montreal, 75 parishoners die one terrible night at the hands of an arsonist. Among the survivors are Remouald, whose nightmarish, repressed childhood memories cause him constant turmoil; Séraphon, his invalid father who holds a self-destructive secret; and schoolteacher Clémentine Clément, who obsesses in solitude over past tragedies, unrequited passions, and the grim suspicion that something is woefully amiss with a group of young boys in her class. Gaétan Soucy applies his trademark vivid language, bracing wit, and fearless insight to this compelling story of horror and hope.