Renée Belliveau
Renée Belliveau is the author of the novels A Sense of Things Beyond (2025) and The Sound of Fire (2021), which was named a Quill and Quire book of the year and shortlisted for the 2022 ReLit Novel Award, as well as the memoir Les étoiles à l’aube (2012). A proud acadienne originally from Shediac, NB, Renée now lives in Dartmouth, NS.
A Sense Of Things Beyond
Only the names of those unable to speak are honoured. Only the names of those long silenced, those who could never rise to refute the distorted narrative, are preserved in stone.
In the aftermath of the First World War, two souls struggle to find their place in a world they no longer recognize. Rose, a nurse who tended to the wounded near the frontlines, has returned to her quiet life in Toronto to find that her family home no longer offers any comfort. Only a few years earlier, she reached France brimming with eagerness to contribute, but as she found herself healing soldiers only to send them back to the trenches, the senseless brutality of war became clear?especially once her nephew Leo enlisted.
Meanwhile, Frederick is trying to reclaim the thread of his life interrupted by war. On the verge of completing his PhD when Germany declared him an enemy alien, he spent the next four years languishing in an internment camp, where thousands of men from the British Empire crowded into unheated horse stables. But now he wonders if his anger at his unjust treatment was misdirected.
Their paths cross as each is trying to bridge the chasm between who they once were and who they have become. As Rose and Frederick navigate the fragile promises of a new world, their shared sense of disillusionment becomes a language of its own. Might they find solace in each other?
Past and present intertwine in A Sense of Things Beyond, revealing how each shapes the other. It is a gorgeously written examination of what comes after war, and how we hold remembrance.
24.95 $
24
April 2026
FRYE Fever
Join us on Friday night for the second edition of Frye Fever - an event where words and tunes collide in the most electrifying way! This event brings together writers and DJs for a high-energy mashup of rhythms and rhymes. Five writers will have just 36 hours to craft two original texts each—but there’s a catch! The final line of every piece needs to be the title of a song so good, you have to get up and dance. So, wear your glamest outfit, lace up those dancing shoes, and let the words pull you in before the beets take over. And the night doesn’t stop there—stick around for a DJ set by Beets & Beans! Presented with pride in partnership with the Aberdeen Cultural Centre.
28.00 $
26
April 2026
Tea Time
Enjoy delicious tea and sweets, courtesy of Marra Kitchen, and immerse yourself in the unique literary worlds of four invited guests. From short stories (Astrid, Aghast) and a book within a book (Indemne: Où va Moby-Dick ?) to poetry (Oublier sans dormir) and a historical novel (A Sense of Things Beyond), there's something for everyone.
15.00 $