From the get-go, Quoyle is a loser. Not only is he physically
unattractive with a "great damp loaf of a body," but he is also not
too bright. His father despises him, and his brother constantly
taunts him. He drifts from job to job, never able to keep one for
more than a few months. He gets married, only to have his wife sell
their two daughters to a child pornographer and leave him.

THE SHIPPING NEWS describes Quoyle's psychological and spiritual
rebirth. Left with two children to raise after he rescues them, and
no job, he returns to Newfoundland, the land of his ancestors. A
sometime newspaper reporter, he gets a job reporting on shipping
news with a local publication, and becomes a minor celebrity.
Gradually he is transformed into a loving father and a valued
neighbor.

The novel is, by turns, heartbreaking and comic. The story of
Quoyle's early life will bring tears to your eyes, but as the story
spins on, you will find yourself wiping away tears of laughter
instead of sorrow. Proulx brings the town of Newfoundland and its
Killick-Claw residents to life with wit and humor.

THE SHIPPING NEWS won the National Book Award in 1993, and the
Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1994.  It is
beautifully  
written --- Proulx prose comes very close to poetry at times ---
and chronicles a compelling story of love and renewal.