Blue Heron Books

Etiénne Morneau is an unassuming young man of few friends and even fewer words.  A recluse, the only way he can make sense of the world around him is to compile lists and stick to a routine. Details of ordinary life that we accept as a matter of course, he often finds difficult to grasp. As a result, he believes he does not know or feel enough to express anything worth expressing. Yet in spite of Etienne’s unique perspective, or perhaps because of it, he is secretly a creative genius. His art — an attempt to capture in images what his mind cannot define in words – is infused with a strange beauty; and his journals – organized in the form of a dictionary — reveal an innocent soul yearning to take part in life and all its small glories. Featuring elegant writing and an unforgettable narrator, Etiénne’s Alphabet is proof that all it takes to make the world remarkable and new is a “different” set of eyes.