Wonderful memoir of growing up in Newfoundland, in a harsh climate, at a time when the fishing industry was in decline and in the aftermath of the 1949 referendum, when the population narrowly voted to stop being a self-governing British Dominion and become the 10th Province of Canada. The author...
It is well written, of that there is no doubt. But I don't like it. I swing between boredom, disinterest (it's really a history but warped), and anger. Why does Johnston focus so much on Smallwood's relationship with Fielding, who, I assume, is a totally made up character? A fictional biography,...
With World War II in the background, forty-something-year-old Sheilagh Fielding packs her trunks to take up residence on a “deserted” island – population zero, Sheilagh checked - off the coast of Newfoundland. Her solitary goal is to write a novel. She has a tale to tell and an extraordinary tale...
Wayne Johnston’s breakthrough epic novel The Colony of Unrequited Dreams was published in several countries and given high praise from the critics. It earned him nominations for the highest fiction prizes in Canada and was a national bestseller. His American editor said he hadn’t found such an ex...
He could make his way to Cluding Deacon through the snow, demand to be let in no matter the time, go from room to room, bed to bed if need be, looking for her baby boy, reading her letters aloud if he had to, though he doubted it would come to that, it being unlikely that they would say no to the...
“A country’s worth” of Newfoundlanders lived abroad, my father said. During the war, thousands of Newfoundland women married and went back to the States with American servicemen. All but one of my mother’s five aunts scattered to the Boston States. My grandfather received news of his sister May’s...
I knew what she meant but pretended not to. I didn’t mind staying at home. It was fun at 44, watching the weird interactions of the grown-ups and soaking up from them as much “forbidden” knowledge as I could. “Why does everyone call him Jim Joyce?” Pops asked. “So as not to confuse him with Joe B...