THE CUSTODIAN OF PARADISE: A NOVEL

Book ID/图书代码： 07900006B09199

English Summary/英文概要： The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, Wayne Johnston’s breakthrough novel based on the life of Newfoundland’s first premier, Joe Smallwood, was published internationally and in several languages. It earned him nominations for the highest fiction prizes in Canada, and is regarded as a masterpiece of historical fiction by critics and readers alike. One of the most highly praised elements of the novel is the character Sheilagh Fielding, a Dorothy Parker-like woman with whom Smallwood shares a lifelong love-hate relationship. Reviewers called her "Johnston’s most compelling character," (Publishers Weekly) and "easily one of the more original characters in fiction" (Library Journal).
In his new book, The Custodian of Paradise, Johnston builds on the story he began in The Colony of Unrequited Dreams and gives us a riveting narrative with Sheilagh Fielding at its heart. At the beginning of the novel, Fielding — advancing on middle age, hobbled by disfigurement and personal demons — is headed for Loreburn, a deserted island off the south coast of Newfoundland. She has chosen the island after an extensive search through census records, which confirmed that it once had a small town of which only boarded-up houses remain; it is now home to not a single soul. Fielding has no idea what to expect of Loreburn, yet she brings two enormous trunks with her and plans for an extended stay.
Fielding has borne a lifetime of estrangement and heartbreak by setting herself apart from the rest of St. John’s society, and by relying on her eccentricity and wit to keep others at bay. By cultivating her isolation, she’s been able to escape the world’s “swirling surfeit of detail” and write, both in her journals and for the Telegram. And by skirting Prohibition laws, she’s also been able to dull the pain of her early years. Fielding’s mother had deserted her husband and only child when Fielding was just six years old, with no explanation. Unable to figure out why a woman would abandon her child, her father was left tormented by the question of Fielding’s paternity. She is six-foot-three and nothing at all like him . . . can she possibly be his child? And when Fielding fell briefly and terribly in love as a teenager, she was left, ultimately, more alone than ever. And alone she remains — that is, except for the mysterious stranger she calls her Provider, who has shadowed her ever since she made a mysterious pilgrimage to her mother’s house in New York City more than two decades earlier.
Gradually, we learn what has brought her to this wild island. As Fielding revisits her articles, letters and journals, we are swept up in her tumultuous life’s journey and the mystery of this Provider’s identity. From the downtrodden streets of New York’s immigrant neighbourhoods to the sanatorium where she fights TB, from the remote workers’ shacks of the Bonavista rail line to the underbelly of wartime St. John’s, the Provider seems to have devoted himself to charting Fielding’s every move and to sending her maddeningly cryptic letters about his role in her life. Yet he has also protected her at times, and their correspondence, as it develops, becomes a form of sustenance for Fielding. While she fears that he may have followed her to Loreburn, she fears even more that he may not be able to find her there.
With The Custodian of Paradise, Wayne Johnston continues his masterful exploration of life in pre-Confederation Newfoundland, and of the powerful forces that give rise to great character — individualism, circumstance, and secrecy; memory, loss, and regret.
I look out across the water which some days, depending on the size of the pond and the strength of the wind, is whitecapped, the waves all racing away from me towards the distant shore.
The water, because the sky is uniformly overcast, is grey, even black. And all around the water the treeless boulder-littered bog of Bonavista. Blueberry bushes, their leaves a russet red, bobbing in the wind, the few remaining alder leaves crackling like bits of ancient parchment.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 读过此作者《碎梦之地》的读者都会知道书中的主人公Sheilagh Fielding。作者的这本新作也是以其为主人公。读者能再次从此人身上得到力量和精神的鼓舞。在二战逐渐退去的日子里，Sheilagh Fielding来到了里纽芬兰海岸不远的一座小岛上，那里荒无人烟，只有一些被遗弃的马匹和成群的野狗。但是她来这里是为了另外一件事：一个跟踪了她20年，只以她的供养者身份出现的男子。从那时起她便开始了去往纽约母亲故居的神秘之旅。和纽芬兰历史风光相对应，韦恩·约翰斯顿的记忆也被唤起。
Fielding是个引人注目的人物，比一般人高且跛脚，她口才极好并很幽默，她的报纸专栏揭露了她所在城市圣约翰的缺点与虚伪，但也因此为自己树立了许多敌人，而这些人的首领，正是她双胞胎孩子的父亲，而那时她只有14岁。当然，也只有这个供养者，知道Sheilagh Fielding所有的秘密。作者实在是塑造故事的高手，令人紧张的节奏，回味无穷。(WZ)

Awards/获奖情况：加拿大畅销书作家韦恩·约翰斯顿
获加拿大作协小说奖，
获加拿大最高文学奖——总督文学奖提名奖
获国际都柏林文学奖
获英联邦最佳作品奖

About the Author/作者介绍： Bestselling novelist Wayne Johnston was born and raised in the St. John’s area of Newfoundland. The Custodian of Paradise is his seventh novel; among his previous works of fiction are The Navigator of New York and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams. He is also the author of an award-winning and bestselling memoir, Baltimore’s Mansion. He lives in Toronto.
韦恩·约翰斯顿(Wayne Johnston1958—)：加拿大著名作家，生于加拿大纽芬兰，曾任记者，后专职写作，现居加拿大多伦多。近年来发表小说多部，在英语文坛颇受瞩目。他屡获重要奖项，如英联邦最佳作品奖，国际都柏林文学奖，吉勒文学奖及总督文学奖提名奖。主要作品有《纽约的探险家》(2002)、《鲍比·欧玛莱的故事》(1985)、《神圣的莱安》(1990)、《梦碎之地》(1998)、《巴尔的摩大厦》(1999)等。他屡获重要奖项，如英联邦最佳作品奖、都柏林文学奖，吉勒文学奖及总督文学奖提名奖。

Format:HARDCOVER

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