Crummey, Michael

Using the vocabulary of the time, Crummey (The Innocents) tells an unhappy but compelling story of division and strife caused by personal vendettas and animosity. A good pick for readers of historical fiction in which family relations and tragedy play key roles.

Similar to Crummey’s Sweetland as it delves into the minutiae of life on a northerly island, this novel can be tough going at times, but fans of narrative travel writing will appreciate Crummey’s descriptive flourishes. The relentless bleakness is alleviated by the cinematic depiction of the surrounding wilderness, with Crummey’s prose recalling that of Jim Crace in its strange, archaic terminology and sense of timelessness, and the conclusion is strangely moving.

Fans of literary fiction and rugged island life will enjoy this astonishing tale of an old man determined not to let go of the past.

Newfoundland author Crummey's award-winning third novel, published in Canada in 2009, affirms that our lives are always astonishing. It's been justly compared to Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. It also calls to mind Graham Swift's Waterland and Alexis Wright's Carpentaria, as well as William Faulkner's epic Compson novels, and will appeal to readers who enjoyed those works.