However, the supernatural elements in Galore are not confined to one character.

An embittered King-me accuses Devine’s Widow of cursing the Sellers family and initiating a chain of inauspicious events that will forever bind the two families.ĭevine’s Widow’s reputation for being a witch with supernatural powers remains with her throughout her life, and she is both feared and revered for it. The Sellers’ connection to the Devines, a family of Irish Catholic fishermen living in the Gut, is a matter of great irritation for King-me, whose pride was long ago wounded by the Devines’ matriarch – known to all as Devine’s Widow – when she refused his proposal of marriage. The English Protestant Sellers, headed by patriarch, magistrate, and tyrant King-me Sellers, reside in Paradise Deep, where they run a merchant operation and exercise significant economic and political power over the two communities. Focusing on two stark coastal communities – Paradise Deep and the Gut – Galore depicts multiple generations of two families divided by wealth, status, politics, and religion, yet inextricably bound by duty, shame, clandestine love, revenge, and the challenge of survival in the New World. Scattered along the coastline, these tiny settlements endured in an unimaginably hostile environment and with scarce resources. Galore vividly imagines Newfoundland’s early permanent settlements, established around the beginning of the 19th century when English and Irish immigrants, among others, set up cod fisheries. John’s, reaffirms his position as a leading voice in the literature of the Rock.

With this new novel, the very title of which suggests Newfoundland’s wealth of stories, Crummey, a Newfoundland native now living in St. The result is a work that surprises and reveals.

While the typical Newfoundland narrative emphasizes the rugged terrain and pragmatic lifestyle of the land’s inhabitants – usually in a mode of straightforward naturalism – Michael Crummey’s third novel injects an element of magic realism to convey an otherworldly quality. For its sheer extremes, both real and conjured, Newfoundland occupies a singular place in Canada’s history and literary imagination.

Galore michael crummey summary