The Adversary by Michael Crummey

In an isolated outport on Newfoundland's northern coastline, Abe Strapp is about to marry the daughter of a rival merchant to cement his hold on the shore when the Widow Caines arrives to throw the wedding and Abe's plans into chaos.

That ruthless act of sabotage is the opening salvo in a battle between the man and woman who own Mockbeggar's largest mercantile firms, each fighting for the scarce resources of the north Atlantic fishery, each seeking a measure of revenge on the person they despise most in the world. As their unshakeable animosity spirals further each year into vendettas and violence, the community is increasingly divided and even the innocents in Mockbeggar find themselves forced to take sides, with devastating consequences.

Through merciless seasons of uncertainty and want, through predatory storms and pandemics and marauding privateers, it is the human heart that reveals itself to be the most formidable and unpredictable adversary for each person drawn, inevitably and helplessly, into that endless feud.

Compulsively enjoyable and uncompromising,The Adversaryis a pitch-perfect evocation of a lost time, and a shadowed mirror to our modern politics of grievance and retribution. It is Michael Crummey's finest novel to date. (From Knopf Canada)

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Michael Crummeyis a poet and novelist from Newfoundland and Labrador. He is also the author of the novelsThe Innocents,SweetlandandGaloreand the poetry collectionsArguments with GravityandPassengers. Two of Crummey's novels have been shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction Sweetlandin 2014 andGalorein 2009.The Innocentswasshortlisted for the 2019 Scotiabank Giller Prize,the 2019 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prizeand the Governor General's Literary Award for fiction.

Interviews with Michael Crummey

The Next Chapter13:17Sibling rivalry is at the heart of Michael Crummeys new novel, The Adversary

The Newfoundland author tells a story of a brother and sister who run the largest mercantile firms in the North Atlantic. As animosity and violence grows between the pair, their community becomes increasingly divided.

The Current32:30Why Michael Crummey is interested in places on the edge

Michael Crummeys new book The Adversary explores his familiar themes around life at the ocean's edge. Matt Galloway sat down with the author at the Woody Point Writers Festival in Newfoundland to discuss isolation, vulgarity and the responsibility that comes with telling the stories of home.