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.

Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny has been a social and environmental activist in various NGOs for over thirty-five years. Videographer, essayist, and novelist, her book-length piece of investigative journalism Mégantic, Une tragédie annoncée (Éditions Écosociété, 2018) was in its original French edition the winner of the 2018 prix Pierre-Vadeboncoeur, a finalist for the 2018 Governor General’s Literary Awards for Non-Fiction, and was listed for the 2019 Prix des libraires.Saint-Cerny participated in the launch of the NGO Fondation Rivières, where she served as vice-president and then general manager, opposing private dams, the harnessing of the Rupert and Romaine Rivers, and campaigning for the preservation of vital watercourses.Since 2008, as general manager of the Société pour vaincre la pollution (SVP), she has been involved in several investigations on instances of ecological contamination by large corporations, notably the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster and several Canadian mining projects. In 2018, she co-founded Québec’s Association des victimes de l’amiante (AVAQ). She was also present in Lac-Mégantic during the full aftermath of the rail disaster and has supported the actions of victims and local committees since 2013. She was the Green Party’s 2015 federal candidate for the riding Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

Anne-Marie Saint-Cerny's profile page

Christian Quesnel is the author and illustrator of several award-winning comic books, including Cœurs d’Argile, Ludwig, Félix Leclerc: L’alouette en liberté, and Vous avez détruit la beauté du monde, which won the Grand prix de la ville de Québec in 2021. In fall 2008, he became the first comic strip artist to win the Prix à la création artistique from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) for his body of work. He holds a master's degree in museology and arts practices from the University of Quebec in Outaouais, in Gatineau, where he is currently a doctoral student.

Christian Quesnel's profile page

W. Donald Wilson was born and educated in Ireland, taking degrees in modern languages and French literature at Trinity College Dublin. He has taught at universities in the West Indies, the UK, and at the University of Waterloo, where he has spent most of his career. He has twice been long-listed for the Best Translated Book Award in the US, and has been a finalist for the French-American Foundation’s translation prize and the Governor General’s Literary Awards. He lives in Baden, Ontario.

W. Donald Wilson's profile page

• Short-listed, Foreword INDIES Award, General, Graphic Novels and Comics

"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."

Alain Deneault, translated by Dani Godbout, NB Media Co-op

"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."

<p>Quill and Quire</p>