Emulating the circuitous tales told by his mother’s relatives, the Goodyears of Newfoundland, David Macfarlane weaves the major events of the island’s twentieth century—the ravages of tuberculosis, the great seal-hunt disaster, the bitter Confederation debate, and above all, the First World War—into his own tale of the ill-starred fortunes of his family. He brings to life a multi-generational cast of characters who are as colourful as only Newfoundlanders can be. With humour, insight and genuine love for these heroes and charlatans, pirates and dreamers, he explores the meaning of family and the consequences of forgotten history.

David Macfarlane is the author of the acclaimed family memoir of Newfoundland, The Danger Tree, which won the Canadian Authors Association Award for Non-Fiction in 1992. He began his career as a writer and editor with Weekend Magazine and has since been published in Saturday Night, Maclean's, Toronto Life, and Books in Canada. He is the recipient of eleven National Magazine Awards, the Sovereign Award for Magazine Journalism, an Author's Award for Magazine Writing, and a recent national newspaper award for his weekly column in The Globe and Mail. He has written and produced a documentary and won a Gemini for his television work. In 1999, Summer Gone was nominated for the Giller Prize and in 2000 it was the co-winner of the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award.

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