Darkness

When John Delano is asked by the sister of Orville MacDurmot to investigate his violent death and the accusations of murder that haunted his final days, Delano embarks on a journey that will pull him deep into Miramichi's shadowy history and the pasts of those who conspired against him.

Bullied as a child for his meagre upbringing and blindness in one eye, Orville broke from his humble roots to become an internationally renowned archeologist, a position those along the Miramichi treat with both pride and resentment. Not one to suffer fools gladly, Orville finds himself progressively at odds with the region's elite, who wish to use his eminence for their own gains and enlist him for their political causes. As resentments old and new fester, suspicion grows and a book titledDarknessincreasingly seems the origin of a crime unlike anything the Miramichi has witnessed before, Orville finds his reputation and his life in danger. When the remains of a young woman and man are discovered on a rugged shoreline where Orville has been working on an archeological dig, his enemies finally see their opportunity to destroy him.

In a saga crossing decades, continents and generations, yet rooted in the richly conceived world of Richards' Miramichi,Darknessexplores the shocking lengths we travel to fulfil personal ambition, and the tragic price we pay to defend our moral principles. (From Doubleday Canada)

Darkness is available in May 2021.

David Adams Richards is a novelist, nonfiction writer and Canadian senator from New Brunswick. His books includeNights Below Station Street, Road to the Stilt House,Mercy Among the Children,Mary CyrandCrimes Against My Brother.Mercy Among the Childrenwon the 2000 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

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Interviews with David Adams Richards

Defining N.B. culture

14 years ago

Duration 8:47

David Adams Richards explains to CBC's Harry Forestell why the issue of culture funding should be discussed in the N.B. election campaign

Trudeau names Giller Prize-winning novelist David Adams Richards to Senate

7 years ago

Duration 5:56

Senate-nominee Richards joins Piya Chattopadhyay to discuss what he brings to the Red Chamber

Other books by David Adams Richards