Man and mouse: comrades who together navigate a world of saints and sinners, and crimes both real and imagined.

Spence is lost—the brief optimism of his early retirement and bold move from Vancouver to Montréal has devolved into a lonely round of French classes, winter cycling and watering his absent daughter’s houseplants. When a mouse moves into his Notre-Dame-de-Grâce apartment uninvited, Spence welcomes the company and the two form an unlikely friendship.

Thierry is a petty thief with strong opinions and a foul mouth who draws the former Drama teacher into an unexpected theatre of conspiracies. He becomes Spence’s little brother, helping him learn French, confront painful memories and reaffirm his Catholic faith. A darkly comic story of rebirth that is both poignant et amusant, sacred et sacrebleu.

David M. Wallace's profile page

Now a resident of Montreal, David Wallace earned a BFA from the University of Victoria. He performed with the Globe Theatre (Regina), the Bastion Theatre (Victoria) and at the Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria Fringe Festivals before beginning a twenty-year teaching career in Burnaby, BC. His poems have been published in the Australian journal Studio and in the Canadian journal Grain. The Little Brudders of Miséricorde is his first novel.

"While Spence and Thierry are peculiar with plentiful shortcomings, both have undeniable charm. Wallace’s immense talent for character and voice is quickly apparent, managing to inject more complexity and captivation into a mouse than other authors afford their human characters. The British Columbia Review

"Exploring an evolving friendship on a strange path to enlightenment: Victoria author David M. Wallace’s debut novel’s ‘brudder comedy’ reveals some serious, searing concerns . . . a heartfelt and inventive novel." Brett Josef Grubisic, Vancouver Sun.

"Lyle Spencer has come unstuck in time and we are fed the jigsaw puzzle pieces to reassemble it in a most descriptive and entertaining way. I am a bilingual Montrealer and the fabric of this book is comfortably familiar to me. I smelled the smells, heard the sounds and saw the settings. The story ricochets from thread to thread touching on subjects that are familiar to many readers: love,abuse, alcoholism, the Catholic faith, the Catholic church and clergy. All aspects of this book seem to be dealt with in binary fashion, that is to say from opposing or contrary perspectives and without judgement. It is up to us, the readers to draw from our own experiences. There are two ideas from different points in the book that made me stop and reflect: 'a flaw disguised in the robes of a virtue is perfectly camouflaged' and the other idea 'what if it is actually the world that is crazy?'" Ian Hanchet, Goodreads.