These Festive Nights Author:Marie-Claire Blais An apocalyptic sensibility and stirring prose offer a vision of the consequences of humanity's tolerance of injustice and suffering in this celebrated novel. On the shores of the Gulf of Mexico during the last days of the 20th century, Renata and a host of personalities including writers, artists, children, young men dying of AIDS, refugees, and... more » members of the Ku Klux Klan converge to celebrate a baby's birth and the turn of the millennium. Separate worlds of great wealth and extreme poverty intermingle on this island to reveal the challenges of life in the modern age.« less