The one about Louis “the Horse” Lamontagne’s strongman years (and his success with the ladies)… Some one hundred people, most of them bright young things with no fear of God or high winds, faced with the choice of watching the American bring a child into the world or freezing to death in a blizzard, had chosen to brave the elements without a second’s hesitation.
Two reliable witnesses had even seen them kissing on the lips, right under the noses of Old Ma Madeleine, Father Cousineau, and Louis-Benjamin’s little sisters, whose salvation had surely now been compromised by such debauchery. There’s the one about Louis “the Horse” Lamontagne’s parents and how he came to be in this world…Īn American! Just imagine! The young lad had surely been seduced from the first minute by the red-haired devil. Stories that go back to the turn of the 20th century, stories that take place all over the world, stories that dazzle and shock – love, ambition, adventure, betrayal, tragedy, family, home – stories with echos and parallels running through them – teal coloured eyes, bass clef birthmarks, recurring names, paintings of the Virgin’s death, mustachioed Popes – and stories that entertain, each one the antidote to the last. Songs for the Cold of Heart is made up of stories within stories. They’ll also tell you – and there’s no reason to doubt them – that any man’s story, wherever he may be, never finds a more attentive ear than his daughter’s, especially if she is the oldest and as such occupies a special place of her own in her father’s heart.
Then, even after his death, his character looms large in everyone’s memory and imagination.Īs any drinking man in Riviere-du-Loup will tell you, it was TV that killed the Horse, not the combustion engine. But, yes, we are first introduced to young Madeleine bringing her father glasses of gin to keep him telling the stories he’s famous for. However, there are so many other wonderful characters in the book that at times you get immersed in their tales and (almost) forget about Louis and Madeleine.
Louis “the Horse” Lamontagne from Riviére-du-Loup Quebec, and his daughter Madeleine, are at the heart of this story. Songs for the Cold of Heartis a big book.
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