Gaffer
A Novel of Newfoundland
- Publisher
- Doubleday Canada
- Initial publish date
- Jun 1998
- Category
- Sea Stories, Sagas, Literary
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9780385257299
- Publish Date
- Jun 1998
- List Price
- $19.95
Classroom Resources
Where to buy it
Description
Gaffer is a surreal, haunting novel of a young man tied to a place, but able to explore the depths of the sea and swim freely across the tides of time. Living in a dying outpost town and haunted by the memory of his father's death aboard the doomed Ocean Ranger, Gaffer is obsessively drawn to the sea. Miraculously, he is transformed into a fish-like creature capable of taking to the ocean, where he experiences episodes from Newfoundland's past, and is granted a dark vision of its future. With a master's grace, Kevin Major weaves the distinctive language of Newfoundland into a narrative that is both poetic and profoundly moving.
About the author
Governor General Award winner Kevin Major has published 17 books, for both young people and adults. His first, Hold Fast, is considered a classic of Canadian young adult fiction, and was recently released as a feature film. No Man’s Land, about the Newfoundland Regiment in WWI, was published in 1995 to much acclaim. Major’s adaption has been brought to the stage by Rising Tide Theatre for more than a dozen seasons.A history of Newfoundland and Labrador: As Near To Heaven By Sea was a Canadian best-seller and finalist for the Pearson Non-Fiction Prize. Ann and Seamus, a verse novel, was shortlisted for a total of ten awards. It has since been turned into an opera, which has been performed internationally. New Under the Sun, the first in a trilogy of historical novels for adults and called “well written, nuanced, and compelling” by Canadian Literature, was nominated for an Atlantic Book Award.John Moss, writing in “A Reader’s Guide to the Canadian Novel,” has said, “Kevin Major is among the best Canadian writers of his generation. He has established himself as a figure of singular importance in our literature.”
Editorial Reviews
"Bold and imaginative." --The Globe and Mail
