The two novellas contained in this collection represent some of Marie-Claire Blais's finest and most lyrical prose. The Day is Dark invites us into a dreamlike world of shadowy landscapes peopled with complex, obsessive characters. It is a story about death as it comes to a family of young people and illuminates oppositions of darkness to daylight, life to death, love to betrayal and hope to despair. The Three Travellers is a beautiful and lyrical story about the profound relationship of life to art. It is a classic love triangle -- the reader enter the inner world of a playwright and his sculptress wife who are both enchanted with a brilliant pianist. This publication in Penguin Short Fiction marks the first English paperback appearance of these two novellas by the award-winning French Canadian writer.