Elvie, Girl Under Glass tells the poignant story of a child transplanted from a sunny mountain village in Italy to Montreal, Quebec, in 1952. Raised in a household ruled by a cruel, controlling father, her desire to free herself from his oppression mirrors the French-language majority’s battle to wrest control of the province’s economic resources from the English-speaking elite. Unlike some of the separatists who eventually turn violent, Elvie responds to her father’s growing strictures by withdrawing deeper into herself. Respite comes from the company of friends and long hours immersed in the thrall of books. Nevertheless, this coping mechanism results in an adult plagued by bouts of depression. The memoir explores Elvie’s experience of growing up by the rules of an Italian household while navigating the French-English divide in Montreal with ease. She learns French on the streets of her lower-working-class neighbourhood and attends school in the English system. Her efforts to break free of her constricting heritage coincide with the aftermath of Quebec’s Revolution of the 1960s and subsequent bloodshed and violence as the French-language majority wrests control of the province’s resources from the English elite. Elvie, Girl Under Glass peeks into one person’s heart and soul as she seeks safe harbour.
