Gabrielle Roy was one of the most prominent Canadian authors of the twentieth century. Joyce Marshall, an excellent writer herself, was one of Roy's English translators. The two shared a deep and long-lasting friendship based on a shared interest in language and writing. In Translation offers a critical examination of the more than two hundred letters exchanged by Roy and Marshall between 1959 and 1980.

In their letters, Roy and Marshall exchange news about their general health and well-being, their friends and family, their surroundings, their travels, and other writers, as...