FOUNDRY STREET
A PLACE IN TIME
Let me introduce myself: My name is Léonard Lafleur, I am one of ten children born and raised in Lachute, Québec. Our home town was a pretty even mix of Anglophone and Francophone populace, with an equivalent, parallel breakdown in religious denominations.
Our family
home was on the corner of Foundry Street and Bethany Street. We went to French
school, spoke English with mother, French with father and conversations around
the table were a dizzying mix of both languages.
Our house
was a relic of bygone Victorian times, with two towers, a huge mysterious
attic, beautiful stairs and balustrades and mysterious nooks and crannies from
top to bottom. Foundry street was our gateway to numerous sorties with our Anglophone and Francophone friends.
Interviews
Mais quelle mouche m’a piquée pour que j’écrive un livre de 238 pages…en Anglais?
C’est simple, pourtant. Né en 1946, mon enfance et mon adolescence zigzaguent entre la Grande Noirceur et la Révolution Tranquille. J’ai grandi, j’ai joué, bataillé, eu peur, eu froid, j’ai ri, pleuré, foutu le bordel dans mon petit patelin de Lachute, Québec. En Français, en Anglais et… en Franglais! Maman était unilingue Anglophone au mariage en 1937, papa Francophone et médecin.
Dix enfants plus tard, elle était parfaitement bilingue et les enfants ‘’itou’’.
Il y a plus de trente ans, son décès fut à l’origine d’une éruption de souvenirs doux-amers-sucrés qui se sont enchaînés, en Anglais.
Voilà donc la Genèse de Foundry Street; une série de regards amusés, moqueurs, mi-figue, mi-raisin, figés dans cette bulle temporelle combien éphémère qu’étaient ma rue, ma ville, mes cultures pendant ces années charnières au Québec. Je vous souhaite donc la bienvenue chez moi, en ouvrant toute grande la porte de mes souvenirs…
Foundry Street
(25$), pour une copie dédicacée, veuillez communiquer avec moi lclafleur@gmail.com
Léonard Lafleur
In 2019, encouraged by multiple comments from readers, I contacted Mrs. Louise Sproule, Editor of The Review, a local newspaper in eastern Ontario serving parts of western Quebec. Thanks to Mrs. Sproule’s guidance and advice, my stories from times past (and not so past!) took life.
Thus, was Foundry Street, the book, born.
Why and how, you may wonder, would a francophone write a 238-page book… in English?
Simple, really: I was born, raised, played, fought mock battles, was scared, froze, laughed, cried, in a small town like thousands of other small towns across North America. Except that this town had attained a delicate balance between both cultures… and my family was smack, dab in the middle of it all!
MY BOOK
FOUNDRY STREET
You can order your copy directly from me at
514-626-5042 or by email lclafleur@gmail.com