On a summer night in 2013, a runaway train loaded with explosive oil derailed in the small town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec. One of the deadliest rail disasters in Canadian history, Lac-Mégantic stands as a haunting narrative of how the powerful profit from collective tragedy.
Who are the real culprits of the disaster that claimed 47 lives? In this vivid, full-colour work of graphic nonfiction, award-winning author Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny and illustrator Christian Quesnel trace the path of the locomotive from the scene of the crime all the way back to cowboy producers of Dakota black gold, Wall Street investors, and politicians in the pocket of the billion-dollar oil and gas industry.
With no national public inquiry launched or meaningful criminal charges laid, the victims of Lac-Mégantic must not become mere statistics, nor the survivors left to the mercy of predatory developers and financial interests. Now the full story of that infamous night and its aftermath live on—and illustrate the true human cost of unfettered capitalism.
What People Are Saying
"The nuanced, sobering illustrations by Christian Quesnel confer a psychological depth and, at times, a synoptic understanding of Saint-Cerny’s argumentative positions... It was necessary for one especially militant ecologist and writer – namely, Saint-Cerny – to prepare a proper, factual and holistic narration of the facts based on sound data."
"The creators clearly situate the events at Lac-Mégantic amid larger conversations about Indigenous land rights and extractive industry, displacement and migration, and the need to put people before profits. Though many readers will have some knowledge of the events at Lac-Mégantic, A Train in the Night serves not only as a moving memorial to the many lives undone in that moment, but also as a startling and political call to action, in the hope that the power of this story might prevent another such tragedy in the future."“Breathtaking artwork foregrounds the human side of the tragedy—the lives lost, the erasure experienced by shocked survivors through the demolition and corporatist redevelopment of their community, and, as usual, the scapegoating of front-line workers by an elite that should bear the ultimate responsibility.”
