That loss was the death of Kyle’s older brother Chris in an industrial accident in the Alberta oilfields. The novel is set in 1983 and, as Kyle thinks about it, each day in the present “Felt like the one long day for three years now.” Three years previously the Nows experienced a tragic loss that marked them all. The intensity of Kyle’s personal responses to his family and community - and to his daily life - took imaginative hold of me. The story of Kyle Now and his outport family became my bedtime pleasure I found it difficult to put down. Joseph Boyden calls it “her most powerful (novel) to date” and I would second that. I’ll restrain my praise, but will note that Morrissey’s powerful novel helped me through that 14-day period. The view of Lunenburg Bay and the soothing ocean breezes were among our immediate pleasures. It proved a wonderful place to be quarantined. I eagerly picked it up when, after a month of COVID delays, we finally arrived on Feltzen South in late June. Nevertheless, because we were dealing with the aftermath of hurricane Dorian before we left, we left our signed copy here, ready for this spring. She is, I can report, as energetic and engaging in her readings as she is in her writings. Late last summer at Vogler’s Cove we attended a reading by Newfoundland novelist Donna Morrissey from her latest book, “The Fortunate Brother” (2016).

When we return to the Maritimes each spring, we are eager to immerse ourselves in the writers of the Atlantic provinces.

Sylvanus Now by Donna Morrissey