Minister and author: Jean-François Roberge publishes an adventure novel

After two children’s books and an essay, Minister Jean-François Roberge took up his pen and launched. conflicts, His first adventure novel for adults is the fruit of years of work.

• Read more: “English Week” at CEGEP: “I will not rebel,” says Roberge, unlike Legault

“I had the idea in 2015, which was eight years ago. Then I wrote it in about five years. So I think I took my time to do things,” the French language minister explained on Tuesday in the corridors of Parliament.

According to his publication, Mr. Roberge’s novel is a story with “great classics”, similar to the works of Alexandre Dumas. The Three Musketeers A you Count of Monte-Cristo.

Conflicts It tells the story of a 20-year-old whose “unusual events, finding himself under a pirate flag far away in the West Indies, transform him into a freedom-loving man who rises up against his colonial orders,” the synopsis of the work states.

Met at the launch of the novel at an independent bookstore in Quebec, Mr. Roberge said he is already working on a sequel to the book, as well as other projects. “I have a notebook full of characters and plot notes,” he says with a smile.

A minister’s workload is especially heavy, and writing a book doesn’t happen overnight. For these reasons, French minister Bruno Le Maire, a writer in his spare time, attracted a lot of criticism after the publication of his latest novel. American EscapeEarlier this year.

When France faced a social crisis, he was criticized for taking too much time for his literary activities.

Minister Roberge assures him that he has no difficulty adjusting to his role as a minister and to writing, which he defines as a hobby as much as anything else.

“MPs, ministers are cyclists, others are readers and crossworders. To relax, I write,” he argued.

Also, the elected representatives of the opposition parties had no qualms about censuring him because of his literary activity. “I don’t want to blame him. We’ll see if the novel goes well,” Quebec Solidaire MP Sol Zanetti said Tuesday morning. Mr. Zanetti believes Mr. Roberge should be judged by his results as a minister, “not according to his schedule.”

“People must be judged in their role (…) by the quality of what they offer. We must not fall into extreme partisanship,” PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said at a separate press conference.

Mr. St-Pierre-Plamondon, Mr. If writing is what allows Roberge to “let the mind free,” he believes it’s his business, even if he admits he doesn’t have time to work on writing a book.