Who else is excited by the prospect of visiting Newfoundland next year for Conference 2023? Want to learn more about Newfoundland regardless of whether you attend the conference or not? Join me for a discussion of books about Newfoundland and Labrador.
Each month, we will discuss a title that explores Newfoundland and Labrador’s geography, people, or history. A list of books was developed by Newfoundlanders for their accurate representation of Newfoundland and Labrador.
All ISC/SCI members are welcome. Join us just for your favourites or come to each meeting, whatever works for you.
We meet on the last Tuesday of each month at 7pm Eastern time and run until May 30, 2023.
May 2, 2023. February, by Lisa Moore ***Note new date***
In 1982, the oil rig Ocean Ranger sank off the coast of Newfoundland during a Valentine’s Day storm.
Questions? Lisa Fedorak at info@fedorakindexing.com
Meeting Dates and Books
Sept 27, 2022. Death on the Ice, by Cassie Brown
With the aid of compelling, contemporary photographs, the book paints an unforgettable portrait of the bloody trade of seal hunting among the icefields when ships—and men—were expendable. (256pp)
Oct 25, 2022. Random Passage, by Bernice Morgan
Epic tale of a family forced to leave England and start life in a harsh new world. (320 pp)
Nov 29, 2022. Small Game Hunting, by Megan Gail Coles
Takes place over one Valentine’s Day in the dead of a winter storm. (432pp)
Dec 27, 2022. Where I Belong, by Alan Doyle
A memoir of growing up in Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, and his musical career with the band Great Big Sea, and beyond. (336 pp)
Jan 31, 2023. Annabel, by Kathleen Winter
An exploration of the meanings of gender through the life of an intersex child born to a family in a remote village in Labrador in the sixties. (480 pp)
Feb 28, 2023. The Big Why, by Michael Winter
A powerful historical novel chronicles a year in the life of celebrated American artist Rockwell Kent who, in 1914, decides to leave urban New York for the rugged wilds of Brigus, Newfoundland, but as the Great War escalates, he becomes a polarizing object of suspicion in the tiny, impoverished community. (384pp)
March 28, 2023. Sweetland, by Michael Crummey
On the small fictional island of Sweetland, just south of Newfoundland, a former lighthouse keeper becomes the last man standing when he refuses to accept a government resettlement package, much to everyone’s exasperation.
April 25, 2023. February, by Lisa Moore
In 1982, the oil rig Ocean Ranger sank off the coast of Newfoundland during a Valentine’s Day storm. (310 pp)
May 30, 2023. TBD. If you think you might be attending the May session, send your votes or suggestions for our final book to info@fedorakindexing.com.
List of Possible Books
All I Ask, by Eve Crocker. Novel that grapples with issues of privacy, relationships, and the abuse of authority in our digital age. (333 pp)
Alligator, Lisa Moore. A suspenseful, heartfelt, and sexy story that examines the ruthlessly reptilian and painfully human sides of all of us. (320 pp)
The Afterlife of George Cartwright, by John Steffler. For George Cartwright–soldier, explorer, naturalist, entrepreneur, gentleman, adventurer–time stopped on May 19, 1819, the day of his death. This is the invented life of this 18th century explorer in the wilderness of Labrador.(306 pp)
Baltimore’s Mansion, by Wayne Johnston. An introduction to the Johnstons of Ferryland, a Catholic colony founded by Lord Baltimore in the 1620s on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland, and centres on three generations of fathers and sons. (288 pp)
The Big Why, by Michael Winter. A powerful historical novel chronicles a year in the life of celebrated American artist Rockwell Kent who, in 1914, decides to leave urban New York for the rugged wilds of Brigus, Newfoundland, but as the Great War escalates, he becomes a polarizing object of suspicion in the tiny, impoverished community. (384pp)
Blood Red Ochre, by Kevin Major. A novel for young adults about the Beothuk people, Indigenous to Newfoundland, but now extinct. (160pp)
The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float, by Farley Mowat. The story of the author’s journey on a troublesome boat, and his encounters with Newfoundlanders on his journey. (256 pp)
Caught, by Lisa Moore. A young man in the late 1970’s schemes for success in the drug business. (338 pp)
Come, Thou Tortoise, by Jessica Grant. A quirky story that features an opinionated tortoise and her owner who find themselves in the middle of a life-changing mystery. (432 pp)
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, by Wayne Johnston. A mystery and a love story spanning five decades, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is an epic portrait of passion and ambition, set against the beautiful, brutal landscape of Newfoundland. (288pp)
February, by Lisa Moore. In 1982, the oil rig Ocean Ranger sank off the coast of Newfoundland during a Valentine’s Day storm. (310 pp)
Galore, by Michael Crummey. An intimate saga of biblical proportions, Judah, a man without speech, emerges from the belly of a beached whale in a coastal village, and the story of the families there are forever changed. (352 pp)
The Innocents, by Michael Crummey. A brother and sister are orphaned in an isolated cove on Newfoundland’s northern coastline. (285 pages)
Minister without Portfolio, by Michael Winter. A man whose girlfriend leaves him goes to Afghanistan, where a tragic incident changes his life an causes him to search for greater meaning. (352 pp)
Navigator of the New York, by Wayne Johnston. An historical novel weaving fact and fiction, set in a backdrop of the race for the North Pole. (496 pp)
The Selected Short Fiction of Lisa Moore. Short stories (298 pp)
Sweetland, by Michael Crummey. On the small fictional island of Sweetland, just south of Newfoundland, a former lighthouse keeper becomes the last man standing when he refuses to accept a government resettlement package, much to everyone’s exasperation.
We’ll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night by Joel Thomas Hynes. The story of one man’s attempt to recuperate from a life of petty crime and shattered relationships, and somehow accept and maybe even like the new man emerging from within, the one he so desperately needs to become. (256 pp)
Woman of Labrador, by Elizabeth Goudie. Goudie’s enduring and candid story of her pioneering life as a trapper’s wife in the early 1900s. (200 pp)
A Woman’s Way through Unknown Labrador, by Mina Hubbard, Roberta Buchanan, Anne hart and Bryan Greene (2005 Edition). In 1905, Mina Benson Hubbard was the first white woman to cross Labrador, which she undertook two years following the starvation of her husband two years prior, on a similar journey. (364 pp)