Last spring, the Montreal writer David Homel raised a furor in the Quebec literary community when he suggested that Quebec writing in French is a quiet literature that doesn’t travel well. The family and its secrets, self-discovery, the difficulties of a child growing up – these are themes that appeal to women, who just happen to make up the greatest proportion of Quebec readers, Homel wrote somewhat disparagingly in the French daily Le Monde.

Homel did not mention Charles the Bold, the first volume of a trilogy by Yves Beauchemin, but he could have easily used this 360-page story of a boy from his birth to age 12 as an example. Published originally in French in fall 2004, it has sold 45,000 copies and is well on its way to earning the $400,000 advance Beauchemin got for the whole trilogy from his Quebec publisher, Fides.

In the novel, Charles Thibodeau’s father is a carpenter, his mother dies before he starts school, and he is abused both physically and sexually. On the other hand, he is smart and kind and beloved by dogs. Beauchemin paints a vivid picture of his working-class neighbourhood, with its cigarette factory and its ubiquitous smell of tobacco.

Shades of Dickens, some might say. Vintage Beauchemin, others will comment – his best-selling Alley Cat also features an orphaned little boy who loves an animal, in that case a cat.

Beauchemin has said that he sees Charles’ story as that of Quebec from 1966 to the end of the 20th century, but in this first volume, politics and social upheaval are buried in a boy’s adventure. Twelve-year-olds will like the plucky hero who triumphs with the help of truly kind friends, as well as a running joke about “wieners.” The translation by Wayne Grady trots along at a pace that matches the rhythm of Charles’ adventures.

Grownups may be charmed by the story, too, but for the kind of tough look at the world Homel says is missing from Quebec writing in French, readers will have to look elsewhere – or perhaps wait for Beauchemin’s next volumes.