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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:The Custodian of Paradiseby Wayne Johnston
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:A story that unlocks two dark secrets: the narrator's paternity and the fate of her lost children.
In the waning days of World War II, Sheilagh Fielding makes her way to an island off the coast of Newfoundland, deserted except for some horses and a pack of wild dogs. But she comes to suspect another presence: that of a man known only as her Provider, who has shadowed her for twenty years, ever since she made a mysterious pilgrimage to her mother's home in New York City. Against the backdrop of Newfoundland's history and landscape — so memorably evoked in Wayne Johnston's prose — Fielding is a compelling figure. Taller than most men and striking in spite of her crippled leg, she is both eloquent and subversively funny. Her newspaper columns exposing the foibles and hypocrisies of her native city, St. John's, have made many powerful enemies for her, chief among them the man who fathered her children — twins — when she was only fourteen. Only her Provider, however, knows all of Sheilagh Fielding's secrets. Review:"Sheilagh Fielding — a striking, unconventional, six-foot-three Newfoundland woman with a limp — returns from prolific Johnston's The Colony of Unrequited Dreams for this highly atmospheric sequel. Near the end of WWII, Fielding (as she is known), a notorious St. John's columnist, holes up on the nearby deserted island of Loreburn after her mother dies and leaves her a small inheritance. There, Fielding senses the presence of her mysterious 'Provider,' who has shadowed her all her life and whom she has never met face-to-face. As Fielding tells her story — abandoned by her mother at six; raised by a father who insinuates she's not his — Fielding's Provider draws closer to her solitary retreat. But Fielding has long kept another secret: she gave birth to twins at the age of 15, who were raised as her half-siblings by her mother in New York City. Johnston's descriptive prose can be exhilarating, from the windswept island to a dingy Manhattan, and he has a sure hand with historical nuggets. There's little tension over the 500-plus pages, and the denouement (her father's identity; her children's fate) is overblown. But Fielding is a fascinating character: she courts her own estrangement as much as she is tormented by it." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:"Meet Fielding. The heroine of Wayne Johnston's sensitive, beautifully written new novel is far too self-aware for her own good and, for that matter, far too tall for it. The proud, limping Fielding is desperately alcoholic, insistently self-sufficient and armed with a scabrous, lacerating wit that is as likely to sink her as to save her. When we first see her, she is looking for a lonely... Washington Post Book Review (read the entire Washington Post review)
Review:"With humor and pathos, Johnston unravels the story in fascinating layers and a compelling tone, revealing how mistakes, betrayal, and revenge can plague people's entire lives." Library Journal
Review:"Suspend your disbelief and sit back for a gripping read in the vein of a nineteenth-century romantic novel but featuring a twentieth-century woman." Booklist
Review:"[I]t's so rare to discover a novel that skillfully portrays a strong female character in history, one that doesn't fall victim to sentimentality." Chicago Sun-Times
Review:"[A] story about love and beauty, and our need for it, no matter how jaded or pessimistic we may seem to the world." San Francisco Chronicle
Review:"A novel of loss and betrayal, passion and revenge, The Custodian of Paradise resonates with wit and a wrenching sadness." Baltimore Sun
Synopsis:In his new book, Johnston builds on the story he began in The Colony of Unrequited Dreams and gives readers a riveting narrative with Sheilagh Fielding at its heart. About the AuthorWayne Johnston's previous novel on Newfoundland, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, garnered extraordinary reviews and praise from Annie Proulx, Andrea Barrett, Howard Norman, and Annie Dillard. A native of Newfoundland, he now lives in Toronto. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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