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Michael Crummey

Biography

Michael Crummey

Michael Crummey is the author of seven books of poetry, most recently LITTLE DOGS: New and Selected Poems and PASSENGERS, and the short fiction collection FLESH AND BLOOD. His first novel, RIVER THIEVES, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and his second novel, THE WRECKAGE, was a finalist for the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. His third novel, GALORE, won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize (Canada and the Caribbean) and was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. His fourth novel, SWEETLAND, was also a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. His most recent novel, THE INNOCENTS, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize and the Governor General’s Literary Award. Michael Crummey lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Michael Crummey

Books by Michael Crummey

The Adversary
by Michael Crummey - Fiction

In an isolated outport on Newfoundland's northern coastline, Abe Strapp is about to marry the daughter of a rival merchant to cement his hold on the shore when the Widow Caines arrives to throw the wedding and Abe's plans into chaos. That ruthless act of sabotage is the opening salvo in a battle between the man and woman who own Mockbeggar's largest mercantile firms, each fighting for the scarce resources of the north Atlantic fishery, each seeking a measure of revenge on the person they despise most in the world. As their unshakeable animosity spirals further each year into vendettas and violence, the community is increasingly divided --- and even the innocents in Mockbeggar find themselves forced to take sides, with devastating consequences.

The Innocents
by Michael Crummey - Fiction, Historical Fiction

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 alive. Muddling through the severe round of the seasons, through years of meager 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.

Sweetland
by Michael Crummey - Fiction

The scarcely populated town of Sweetland rests on the shore of a remote Canadian island. Its slow decline finally reaches a head when the mainland government offers each islander a generous resettlement package --- the sole stipulation being that everyone must leave. Fierce and enigmatic Moses Sweetland, whose ancestors founded the village, is the only one to refuse. As he watches his neighbors abandon the island, he recalls the town’s rugged history and its eccentric cast of characters.