Book Summary
In the waning days of World War II, Sheilagh Fielding makes her way to an island off the coast of Newfoundland, deserted except for some horses and a pack of wild dogs. But she comes to suspect another presence: that of a man known only as her Provider, who has shadowed her for twenty years, ever since she made a mysterious pilgrimage to her mother's home in New York City.
Against the backdrop of Newfoundland's history and landscapeso memorably evoked in Wayne Johnston's proseFielding is a compelling figure. Taller than most men and striking in spite of her crippled leg, she is both eloquent and subversively funny. Her newspaper columns exposing the foibles and hypocrisies of her native city, St. John's, have made many powerful enemies for her, chief among them the man who fathered her childrentwinswhen she was only fourteen. Only her Provider, however, knows all of Sheilagh Fielding's secrets.
Book Reviews:
"There's little tension over the 500-plus pages, and the denouement is overblown. But Fielding is a fascinating character: she courts her own estrangement as much as she is tormented by it." - PW.
"With humor and pathos, Johnston unravels the story in fascinating layers and a compelling tone, revealing how mistakes, betrayal, and revenge can plague people's entire lives." - Library Journal.
More Information:
Note: This is Canadian Wayne Johnston's 7th novel; others include The Navigator of New York and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams.
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