This is easily one of the year's best novels.įrom prizewinning author Michael Crummey comes a spellbinding story of survival in which a brother and sister confront the limits of human endurance and their own capacity for loyalty and forgiveness.Ī brother and sister are orphaned in an isolated cove on Newfoundland's northern coastline. The author's prose is as stark and vibrant as the landscape in which this remarkable story of determination and endurance is set. Their only regular contact with the outside world is the annual arrival of a ship, ironically called The Hope, which provides them with enough supplies to barely survive another brutal winter in return for their catch of fish. The knowledge the two children have of how to survive in this unforgiving terrain has been imparted in meager portions by their parents.

A singular work of fiction in theme and execution.Ī brother and sister are left to fend for themselves on the rugged shoreline of northern Newfoundland after the deaths of their baby sister, mother, and father. The Innocents is intense, beautifully written and richly imagined. But this brother and sister do survive having learned just enough from their parents about fishing, gardening, and subsisting. At their ages and in their utter isolation, they wouldn't even know such a word exists nor is there another soul anywhere near enough to help them survive. In the late 18th century along a rocky cove in northern Newfoundland, Evered and Ada become orphans.

Michael crummey the innocents