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Title details for The Innocents by Michael Crummey - Wait list

The Innocents

by Michael Crummey
Mary Lewis
Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 4 weeks
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0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 4 weeks
*FINALIST FOR THE 2019 SCOTIABANK GILLER PRIZE
*FINALIST FOR THE 2019 GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD
*FINALIST FOR THE 2019 ROGERS WRITERS' TRUST FICTION PRIZE
*WINNER OF THE 2020 THOMAS RADDALL ATLANTIC FICTION AWARD
*NATIONAL BESTSELLER
*NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2019 BY The Globe and Mail • CBC • Toronto Star • Maclean's
Crummey's novel has the capacity to change the way the reader sees the world. —Scotiabank Giller Prize Jury Citation 

From bestselling, award-winning author Michael Crummey comes a sweeping, heart-wrenching, deeply immersive novel about a brother and sister alone in a small world.
A brother and sister are orphaned in an isolated cove on Newfoundland's northern coastline. Their home is a stretch of rocky shore governed by the feral ocean, by a relentless pendulum of abundance and murderous scarcity. Still children with only the barest notion of the outside world, they have nothing but the family's boat and the little knowledge passed on haphazardly by their mother and father to keep them.
As they fight for their own survival through years of meagre catches and storms and ravaging illness, it is their fierce loyalty to each other that motivates and sustains them. But as seasons pass and they wade deeper into the mystery of their own natures, even that loyalty will be tested.
This novel is richly imagined and compulsively readable, a riveting story of hardship and survival, and an unflinching exploration of the bond between brother and sister. By turns electrifying and heartbreaking, it is a testament to the bounty and barbarity of the world, to the wonders and strangeness of our individual selves.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Awards

  • Release date

    August 27, 2019

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780385694513
      • File size: 261859 KB
      • Duration: 09:05:32

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      September 23, 2019
      In his fifth novel, Crummey (Sweetland) imparts another heartfelt, extraordinary perspective on survival in the rugged isolation of his homeland of Newfoundland, this time from two pre-adolescent, newly orphaned siblings, after illness fells their infant sister and parents. Evered and Ada Best endure inconceivably severe weather conditions; their 19th-century livelihoods are at the mercy of nature—will they harvest enough fish to trade for necessary winter provisions? Besides the biannual visits of the ship, ironically named The Hope and run by an unscrupulous money-man, the brother and sister only have each other for companionship. Happenstance brings a captain and his cook to their cove—just in time to save a feverish Ada from near death; later a ship full of sailors looking to replace their mainmast arrives, temporarily enlivening their existence. Against the sensitive portrayal of how two naïfs handle their budding sexuality, these fortuitous encounters underscore Evered’s and Ada’s innocence about life and the larger world. Crummey delivers profound insight into how individuals grapple with the forces of nature, not only in the unpredictable environment, but in the mystifying interior of their temperaments, drives, and character. This story of how two guileless youngsters navigate life will have a deep emotional impact on its readers.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Listeners will be riveted by Mary Lewis's accomplished narration of this harrowing audiobook about survival under extreme circumstances. Eleven-year-old Everett and nine-year-old Ada have just buried both parents and their younger sister and are now living on their own in an isolated cove in nineteenth-century Newfoundland. Lewis sensitively conveys the unbearable burdens these children endure as they manage to survive for years on meager provisions while combating serious illnesses. Modern listeners will be incredulous at the disinterest in the children's welfare from the occasional visitor to the cove. Lewis skillfully renders each character's regional accent and the precise formality of the language of that time. The complicated bond and resilience of Everett and Ada will fascinate listeners. M.J. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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