Wayne Johnston was born and raised in the St. John's area of Newfoundland. His #1 nationally bestselling novels include The Custodian of Paradise, The Navigator of New York and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, which was an international bestseller and will be made into a film. Johnston is also the author of an award-winning and bestselling memoir, Baltimore's Mansion. He lives in Toronto.
The Custodian of Paradise
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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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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format: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
Format: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. Don’t let that put you off reading it – it is worth the time.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.6 out of 5 stars
8 reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
great companion to colony of unrequited dreams
Jun 3 2007
By David W. Straight
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Johnston's excellent Colony of Unrequited Dreams featured Joey Smallwood
with 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.
with 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.
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
This man is a genius
May 29 2007
By Janeway
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
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.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Strangely compelling.
Jan 19 2010
By Ed
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
When I came to this book on my nightstand and read the blurb, I couldn't imagine why I had bought it in the first place. When you read descriptions of the plot, it seems, at best, dull.
But the writing is wonderful. And the details, and sense of place, are fantastic. I couldn't put this book down, and you won't be able to either.
Excellent.
But the writing is wonderful. And the details, and sense of place, are fantastic. I couldn't put this book down, and you won't be able to either.
Excellent.
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 8 reviews
3.6 out of 5 stars
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