Portland writer Ron Currie revisits 1987 Jay paper strike in new novel

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 15, 2026

The title of Portland-based writer Ron Currie’s 2025 novel, “The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne,” would not suggest to most readers that a sequel was on the way. And yet, just over a year later, Currie has returned to the scene of the many crimes detailed in his previous book with “We Will See You Bleed,” a novel that revisits many of the characters. Set over a handful of days in 1984 as the Franco-American community in Waterville strikes at the local paper mill, “We Will See You Bleed” is both a fascinating return to the milieu of his earlier novel and something of a stylistic departure, a novel that finds a different way to reckon with some of the same themes as its predecessor.