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From Publishers Weekly
Sheilagh Fielding—a striking, unconventional, six-foot-three Newfoundland woman with a limp—returns from prolific Johnston's The Colony of Unrequited Dreams for this highly atmospheric sequel. Near the end of WWII, Fielding (as she is known), a notorious St. John's columnist, holes up on the nearby deserted island of Loreburn after her mother dies and leaves her a small inheritance. There, Fielding senses the presence of her mysterious "Provider," who has shadowed her all her life and whom she has never met face-to-face. As Fielding tells her story—abandoned by her mother at six; raised by a father who insinuates she's not his—Fielding's Provider draws closer to her solitary retreat. But Fielding has long kept another secret: she gave birth to twins at the age of 15, who were raised as her half-siblings by her mother in New York City. Johnston's descriptive prose can be exhilarating, from the windswept island to a dingy Manhattan, and he has a sure hand with historical nuggets. There's little tension over the 500-plus pages, and the denouement (her father's identity; her children's fate) is overblown. But Fielding is a fascinating character: she courts her own estrangement as much as she is tormented by it. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
Suspend your disbelief and sit back for a gripping read in the vein of a nineteenth-century romantic novel but featuring a twentieth-century woman. Feisty, iconoclastic, and extremely ironic, Sheilagh Fielding was originally introduced in Johnston's^B award-winning historical novel, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (1999). There she was featured as the fictitious companion of Joey Smallwood, first premier of Newfoundland. Now, however, she is the star, and her story is a riveting one. The novel opens with Sheilagh, in time and space very close to the end of the novel, trying to find a deserted island to live on. The novel ends with her leaving that island, not many months later. But the time between those two events spans almost 30 years and two wars. Through the use of diaries--her own and others--as well as letters, Sheilagh tells her fascinating story, a tale that includes the puzzle of her paternity and the everlasting effects of her own motherhood. The unsatisfactory ending begs a sequel, but even so, this would make for a rousing discussion in a book club. Maureen O'Connor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This would make a wonderful Canada Reads contest selection!,
By
This review is from: The Custodian of Paradise (Paperback)
My only regret was when the book ended; not that the ending was bad, just that I enjoyed this book so much I could have kept reading it for weeks! Johnston's "Sheilagh Fielding" is witty and worn from sorrow, recounting the trouble from her past in the seclusion of an abandonned island off the coast of NewFoundland. (Who hasn't romanticized about living on a deserted island?) Her tale has some surprising twists that keep you page-turning for answers, which do not disappoint. This novel is composed of several well written letters of correspondence between the main character and her "provider" which take you back to the prohibition era; pre-confederate NFLD. I hadn't read any previous works from Johnston about this character, but I intend to.
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Terrific Read,
By Kelly Rossiter (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Custodian of Paradise (Hardcover)
This new novel by Wayne Johnston picks up the story of Sheilagh Fielding, first introduced in The Colony of Unrequited Dreams. This character is a bitter, brittle, brilliant wreck of a woman. The reader delights in her wit and her repartee while glimpsing the grief that underpins everything in her life. Johnston has added an interesting plot to match this wonderful character study, making it a terrific read. My biggest quibble with the book is the length. Weighing in at over 500 pages I could have used a bit more editing. Dont let that put you off reading it it is worth the time.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.6 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews) 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
great companion to colony of unrequited dreams,
By David W. Straight - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Custodian of Paradise (Hardcover)
Johnston's excellent Colony of Unrequited Dreams featured Joey Smallwoodwith Sheilagh Fielding as a strong secondary presence. This novel reverses that order--it features Sheilagh Fielding with Joey Smallwood more in the background. This is not a book that you can hurry through-- think of a cup of very hot, very rich coffee--you have to sip it and savor it slowly. The writing is superb--rich prose with a wonderful sense of time and place. Sheilagh Fielding, for reasons unclear at first, takes up residence on an island off Newfoundland's south coast--in an abandoned fishing village. There's very little of the present--perhaps 90% of the story is retrospective--a looking back at the events in her life. At six feet three and sharp-tongued (to put it mildly) she has not made many friends (other than Smallwood). But she has a mysterious "provider" who has kept an eye on her. The provider's role slowly unfolds--and much of what Sheilagh (and the reader) thought they knew about her (Sheilagh's) life gets turned around. In a way, this reminds me of Robert Goddard's novels (qv) where the past gets unravelled many years later--but in this case (unlike Goddard's books) Sheilagh starts learning about the provider when she's 16, and at age 44 (when the novel opens) she has been learning bits and pieces since she was 16. For me, the process was like slowly and carefully taking the many layers of wrappings off a very delicate object. Johnston has written another wonderful book--this doesn't have the historical sweep of Colony--but it's layered and rich, and not to be missed. 10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This man is a genius,
By Janeway - Published on Amazon.com
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This review is from: The Custodian of Paradise (Hardcover)
I have to admit, Wayne Johnston could write about anything and I'd gladly read it, and the fact that critics have compared him to Dickens is no surprise to me. I would, without hesitation, say he is the greatest novelist of our time. His words are like a warm sea that I could float in all day, and the continuity between this book and The Colony is perfect.Sheilagh Fielding is my favorite character of all time, and when I first heard Mr. Johnston was devoting an entire novel to her, I thought it was too good to be true. And it was definitely worth the wait. There could have been no better followup to The Colony, and The Guardian may even be a greater book, if that is possible. My hat is definitely off to Mr. Johnston, a true genius in our midst. 3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Articulately Depressing,
By Elizabeth J. Love - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Custodian of Paradise (Paperback)
Wayne Johnston is a favorite author of mine. He writes so beautifully but the heroine this time around chained me and dragged me into whatever abyss the author happened to be in at the time. I always enjoy the historical aspects of his work, and the colorful characters generally make one think, laugh and commiserate but I could only find despair in Sheleigh. Her sarcasm was clever and intriguing for about three chapters, then I had no further tolerance. It was difficult to finish.
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