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Rage the night : a novel / by Morrissey, Donna,1956-author.;
Includes bibliographical references.'Rage the Night' is at once the intimate tale of one man's quest to discover the truth of his birth and a riveting account of a real-life Newfoundland tragedy from 1914, brilliantly and sensitively imagined by one of Canada's most beloved and bestselling authors. Donna Morrissey lives in Halifax, NS.
Subjects: Historical fiction.; Novels.; Disasters; Identity (Psychology); Interpersonal relations; Sealing; Secrecy; Survival;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Pluck : a memoir of a Newfoundland childhood and the raucous, terrible, amazing journey to becoming a novelist / by Morrissey, Donna,1956-author.;
"A deeply personal account of love's restorative ability as it leads renowned novelist Donna Morrissey through mental illness, family death, and despair to becoming a writer--told with charm and inimitable humour. When Donna Morrissey left the only home she had ever known, an isolated Newfoundland settlement, at age 16, she was ready for adventure. She had grown up without television or telephones but had absorbed the tragic stories and comic yarns of her close-knit family and community. The death of her infant brother marked the family, and years later, Morrissey suffers devastating guilt about the accidental death of her teenage brother, whom she'd enticed to join her in the oilfields. Her misery was compounded by her own misdiagnosis of a terminal illness, all of which contributed to crippling anxiety and an actual diagnosis of PTSD. Many of those events and themes would eventually be transformed and recast as fictional gold in Morrissey's novels. In another writer's hands, Morrissey's account of her personal story could easily be a tragedy. Instead, she combines darkness and light, levity and sadness into her tale, as her indomitable spirit and humour sustain her. Morrissey's path takes her from the drudgery of being a grocery clerk (who occasionally enlivens her shift with recreational drugs) to western oilfields, to marriage and divorce and working in a fish-processing plant to support herself and her two young children. Throughout her struggles, she nourishes a love of learning and language. Morrissey layers her account of her life with stories of those who came before her, a breed rarely seen in the modern world. It centers around iron-willed women: mothers and daughters, wives, sisters, teachers and mentors who find the support, the wind for their wings, outside the bounds given to them by nature. And it is a mysterious older woman she meets in Halifax who eventually unleashes the writer that Morrissey is destined to become. An inspiring and insightful memoir, Pluck illustrates that even when you find yourself unravelling, you can find a way to spin the yarns that will save you--and delight readers everywhere."--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Morrissey, Donna, 1956-; Anxiety disorders; Brothers; Novelists, Canadian (English);
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The fortunate brother / by Morrissey, Donna,1956-author.;
"Once dubbed "our Thomas Hardy" by Alastair MacLeod, Morrissey delivers a powerful novel about a Newfoundland family coping with a murder on their doorstep and the loss of a son. In The Fortunate Brother, beloved East Coast storyteller Donna Morrissey completes her trilogy of the Now family, Newfoundland fisherfolk first uprooted from the outport and then devastated by the loss of a son working on an Alberta oil rig. This novel focuses on Kyle, who is still mourning his dead older brother, Chris. But soon the murder and drowning of a local bully, Clar Gillard, proves more than distracting as the police cordon off the Now house. The victim's blood was found on the family's pier, and suspicion falls first on Clar's alienated wife, then in the Now family. Behind the turmoil is the quieter but no less intense drama of the aftermath of Chris's death. Father Sylvanus Now drowns his sorrow in a bottle, and mother Addie is facing breast cancer. Tension exists between Kyle and Sylvie Now, unresolved as long as Kyle fails to confront his anger over his sister's role in getting Chris a job on the oil rig. It's not all sorrow and darkness. Morrissey's trademark humour lightens the tone, and there is the Newfoundland patois that takes cursing to new flamboyant levels. A cast of memorable characters surrounds the Now family, some intriguing, some comical, but all finely drawn and fully realized. As the mystery of who killed Clar Gillard unfolds, other deeper secrets are revealed. Wise in the ways of the heart, The Fortunate Brother is both a whodunnit and a moving family drama from a unique writer."--
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Death; Families;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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