Last month, I wrote about one of my favorite Canadian writers, Peter Behrens. Another Canadian author who deserves a wider readership in the U.S. is Wayne Johnston. In his novels, Johnston perceptively chronicles the lives of his characters. I think that the best place to start is his epic novel of the formation of modern Newfoundland, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams.
Here, Johnston mixes fact and fiction, using as a jumping off point the rise to power of historical character Joe Smallwood, Newfoundland’s first premier after the confederation with Canada in the 1940s. For contrast, Johnston creates an able fictional antagonist for Smallwood, journalist and cynic Sheilagh Fielding. The pair first meet in school, and their fates and lives are intertwined as they both struggle to bring Newfoundland into the twentieth century.
Whether he is writing about the austere beauty of the land, the difficulties of growing up in what was seen as a backwards society, or the backroom political struggles that marked Smallwood’s adult life, Johnston always finds the right words to capture the time and the mood. He moves effortlessly between all social classes, and captures both the large societal changes that are occurring as well as the lives of individual characters.
Readers of historical fiction will find a lot to enjoy here as Johnston chronicles a piece of history that will be new to most in the U. S. The Colony of Unrequited Dreams should also find fans among those who enjoy epic tales painted on a large canvas with complex and shifting plots. Those readers who want to know more about the life of fictional journalist Fielding will also want to read Johnston’s 2006 novel The Custodian of Paradise, which fills in more of the details of her life.
Check the WRL catalog for The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
