When a nuclear reactor explodes it’s one family’s destiny that breaks into pieces…

Nuclear Family is a simple yet extremely powerful dark, family drama that begins in the quiet of morning in a small town in Quebec, as Catherine cradles her baby in her arms. That’s when the news comes over the radio; there was an explosion at the nuclear power plant where her husband works. Hours pass without any news until the phone call she was both dreading and expecting arrives; her husband was among the seven men who didn’t survive.

Years pass. Catherine has done the best to make a life for herself and her young daughter Émilie. She’s even ready to start dating again and nervously invites a colleague over for dinner named Richard, a man who is craving a family.

More years pass. Émilie is a pre-teen who is performing in the school concert that night. Catherine, now married to Richard, is high-strung and fights with Émilie over the proper clothing she should wear. As the tension between the two rises, Catherine drinks whiskey to calm her nerves; a little too much for Richard’s liking. This has become a bad habit.

The lives of these three people will be forever upended when we realize that what we think happened didn’t actually happened. And the real tragedy may be lurking in the darkness.

Jonathan Gaudet was born in Quebec in 1977. He studied literature and then taught French in Argentina, Louisiana, Prague and Athens. Now settled in Vienna, he splits his time between teaching, music and writing. He is the author of several novels including La Dérive des jours (Hurtubise, 2013; short-listed for the Prix des cinq continents de la Francophonie) and La Ballade de Robert Johnson (Le Mot et le Reste, 2021).