Caught Between Nature and Modernity

The rich natural and emotional landscape in Sylvanus Now provides the context for an exploration of the personal and the political in the modernization of Newfoundland’s fishing industry. The story bears great relevance to the continuing issues relating to the preservation of Canada’s natural resources and the question of who defines “progress.” At the book’s centre, the spectre of encroaching progress paints a stark picture of the degradation of an entire community and, in particular, the relationships of its inhabitants.

Sylvanus Now is Donna Morrissey’s third novel. Her first work, Kit’s Law, won the Canadian Booksellers Association First-Time Author of the Year Award and was shortlisted for the Atlantic Fiction Award. Her second novel, Downhill Chance, received similar acclaim. Morrissey has had several short stories adapted into screenplays, including “The Clothesline Patch,” which received a Gemini. In Morrissey’s latest...