Nikolski is an award-winning novel by Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 writer Nicolas Dickner

Nicolas Dickner

Nicolas Dickner is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. He is best known for his 2005 novel Nikolski, which has won numerous literary awards in Canada both in its original French and translated English editions.He currently lives in Montreal, where he is a literary columnist for the...

. Originally published in 2005 in French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, an English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 edition translated by Lazer Lederhendler

Lazer Lederhendler

Lazer Lederhendler is a Canadian literary translator and academic. A four-time nominee for the Governor General's Award for French to English translation, he won the award in 2008 for his translation of Nicolas Dickner's novel Nikolski...

 was published in 2008.

The original French edition was a nominee for the 2005 Governor General's Award

2005 Governor General's Awards

The nominees for the 2005 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were announced on October 17. Winning titles were announced on November 16...

 for French fiction and won the Prix Anne-Hébert

Prix Anne-Hébert

The Prix Anne-Hébert is a Canadian literary award, presented annually to the best first work of fiction in French by a writer from Quebec. The award was created in 2000 to honour writer Anne Hébert following her death.The award has a monetary value of $7,500...

 in 2006. The English translation won the 2008 Governor General's Award

2008 Governor General's Awards

The shortlisted nominees for the 2008 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were announced on October 21, and winning titles were announced on November 18...

 for French-to-English translation, and the 2010 edition of Canada Reads

Canada Reads

Canada Reads is an annual "battle of the books" competition organized and broadcast by Canada's public broadcaster, the CBC.-Overview:During Canada Reads, five personalities champion five different books, each champion extolling the merits of one of the titles. The debate is broadcast over a series...

.

The novel's story is set in Montreal

Montreal

Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...

 and revolves around three seemingly disconnected characters (Noah, Joyce and an unnamed narrator) whose lives eventually intersect in the city's Plateau

Le Plateau-Mont-Royal

Le Plateau-Mont-Royal is a borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.The Plateau-Mont-Royal takes its name from its location on relatively flat terrain north of Sherbrooke Street and downtown, and east of Mont-Royal...

 neighbourhood. The title derives from one of the novel's recurring motifs

Motif (narrative)

In narrative, a motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce other narrative aspects such as theme or mood....

, a broken compass

Compass

A compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions – north, south, east, and west. Intermediate directions are also defined...

 which consistently points to the small village of Nikolski, Alaska

Nikolski, Alaska

Nikolski is a census-designated place on Umnak Island in Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska, United States. The population was 39 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Nikolski is located at .According to the U.S...

 instead of the Magnetic North Pole.