Larry Tremblay’s The Orange Grove is one of those books that change you. It fundamentally changes how you think and feel about a major contemporary issue. But it is also a book that makes you feel conflicted about that change, largely because that issue here is suicide bombings. […]But, nonetheless, I think that this book should be read as part of our self-education, particularly at a time where media representations of the ‘other’ are becoming increasingly political and difficult to navigate.  — IN WORDS AND INK

‘Nuanced but contrasting. Rough but also sensual. Shot through with powerful dialogues but never rambling. This kind of writing takes guts.’ — Le Devoir

‘A little jewel, finely chiseled.’ — Elle

‘The Orange Grove is a thing of rare, awful beauty… a must-read.’ — Mika Provata-Carlone

‘Larry Tremblay’s ability [is] not so much to weave a storyline as to unravel it with finesse and beauty.’—  Toronto Sun

‘The voluntary simplicity of Tremblay’s writing recalls the story of Cain and Abel or the parable of the Prodigal Son… With The Orange Grove, Tremblay gives us a novel we should read…not once, but twice.’ — La Presse (Quebec)

Somewhere in the Middle East, twin brothers have lived peacefully under the shade of the orange trees until, one day, an explosive crosses the sky, killing their grandparents. The horrors of war seize hold of their childhood and crush their destiny. Men come to take vengeance for the blood that has been shed. One of the brothers must wear an explosive belt over the mountains and into a refugee camp. Who will be the chosen one? Come what may, everyone will, like the martyrs, pay a price – the dead and those who remain.

A novel that is both timeless and relevant to current times, The Orange Grove possesses the brute force of the great tragedies and the lyricism of desert legends. At the crossroads of the universes of Wajdi Mouawad (Scorched) and Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner), Larry Tremblay, one of Quebec’s most famous playwrights, hits a milestone and strikes right at the heart, leaving the reader to distinguish the pure souls from the deceitful, and the zealots from the heroes.