About the Book
After being uprooted from their fishing outport, the Now family is further devastated by the tragic loss of their eldest son, Chris, who died working on an Alberta oil rig. Kyle Now is still mourning his older brother when the murder of a local bully changes everything. The victim’s blood is found on the family’s pier, and suspicion falls first on an alienated wife, and then finally on the troubled Now family.
But behind this new turmoil, Chris’s death continues to plague the family. Father Sylvanus Now drowns his sorrow in a bottle, while mother Addie is facing breast cancer. And the children fight their own battles as the tension persists between Kyle and his sister, Sylvie, over her role in their brother’s death.
Format: Hardcover (272 pages) Publisher: Canongate
Publication date: 20th April 2017 Genre: Historical Fiction
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My Review
I only realised this is the third in a three-volume series of books after I started to read it but I felt it worked well as a standalone read. However, it made me curious to know more about the events that have brought the family to this point so I may well look out the previous two books.
Initially, I thought this was going to be a depressing read because of the troubled nature of all the characters and it took me a while to get used to Morrissey’s writing style. Not being familiar with Newfoundland culture, I can’t testify to the authenticity of the vocabulary and dialogue but it seemed right for the characters and pretty soon I adjusted to the rhythm.
The story is a combination of family drama and murder mystery but the mystery element doesn’t feel tacked on because the way the various characters react to events (in particular the main protagonist, Kyle) seems believable given their state of mind.
The unseen but ever present emotional heart of the book is Chris, Kyle’s brother, who has died in an oil rig accident before the book opens. In various ways, all the family are struggling to cope with their grief and/or guilt at his death. In particular, Kyle, seen as the “fortunate brother” because he’s still alive.
Morrissey adeptly plays out how the surviving family members are driving themselves apart when they are at greatest need of coming together: “Too isolated in their loneliness to feel the good still left to them.” Although bleak at times, this was an engrossing read.
I received an advance review copy courtesy of Canongate Books via NetGalley.
In three words: Atmospheric, emotional, gritty
About the Author
Donna Morrissey is the award-winning author of Kit’s Law, Downhill Chance, What They Wanted, and Sylvanus Now, which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. She grew up in The Beaches, a small fishing outport in Newfoundland & Labrador and now lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
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