DOMINO: THE ESKIMO COAST DISASTER: QUESTION AND ANSWER

This book is about a devastating hurricane that occurred long ago in a northern clime. It tells a compelling tale that you can’t help but be drawn into. But it is also about loss, the lives of women and the lives of men, the role of work in the 19th century, and relations between people from different cultures.

The book tells a true story which I’ve reconstructed through a great deal of archival and historical research. Like Tsunami, my previous book, Domino is creative (or literary) non-fiction, meaning that I borrow the techniques used in fiction to put the story in narrative form, recreate conversations, descriptions, etc. I find this really makes the story come to life.

Two young women, Hannah Dyson, who is of mixed Inuit-British ancestry, and Georgia O’Neill, a shipped girl from Grates Cove, Newfoundland, are the main female characters. Georgia works for the Kelloways, a fishing family, while Hannah is in service to the Perrys, a captain’s family from the affluent town of Trinity. Both characters are based on real people who appear in the historical record. Georgia’s story is documented in several sources and was well-known in her part of Newfoundland for many years.

Captain William Bartlett, father of the famous Arctic explorer, Bob Bartlett, is one of the main male characters. Bartlett plays a central role in the rescue of many of the stranded. The other main male character is Robert Munn, a Scotsman who became one of Newfoundland’s most successful merchants. As merchants are so often cast as villains in Newfoundland history, Munn fascinated me. I spent more time with him—in my head—than with any other character. I feel that he is quite a fleshed-out character as a result.

Through these characters I explore power relationships, the nature of heroics and loss, and the other topics I’ve alluded to above.

The book is set mainly on the Labrador Coast where Newfoundland fishermen and their families spent their summers fishing. In the 19th century, when the book is set, the Labrador Coast from Cape Charles to the northern tip was called “the Eskimo Coast”. I realize the term is outdated and that Inuit quite rightly object to the word Eskimo but I wanted to be as true to the period as possible. This is often a challenge writers face, especially when we are writing about conditions that have changed.

Domino is a small community on the Island of Ponds on the South Coast of Labrador. It was one of the capitals of the Labrador fishery. I’ve spent a lot of time there and in neighbouring Black Tickle where I worked with the people there who are Métis. I came to dearly love this beautiful part of Labrador; it’s a powerful place.

I also chose Domino as one of the primary Labrador settings for the book because of the lasting effects of the disaster on people’s lives and communities and on the Newfoundland economy and government. The other Labrador settings are the White Bear Islands and Turnavik.

Harbour Grace, Newfoundland is also an important setting in Domino. This elegant, graceful town is also one of my favourite places. St. John’s, Trinity and other towns are also featured.

I started collecting material for the book in the late 1990s when I first went to Black Tickle-Domino. Then I did research whenever I had a chance over the years. Then I dedicated months to writing the manuscript a couple of years ago. The next year I set aside more time to do rewrites and, more recently, to work with an editor to produce the final version.

Another writer asked me this after Tsunami came out and I’ve been thinking about it on and off ever since. I think I’m mainly interested in loss and how helpless we human beings truly are in the face of it sometimes. In Domino you’ll read about a hurricane that destroyed 66 ships and cost the lives of over 70 people, mainly women and children. You can imagine the experience and the shock and grief the survivors and their communities had to deal with.

I think that disasters put human behaviour, relationships, and, obviously, loss in sharp relief, which is great for a writer. With this disaster, I was concerned that it would be lost. Despite its enormity, few people know about it.

I like to read about loss and disasters. I enjoy Jon Krakauer’s work, was captivated by The Children’s Blizzard, and am a great fan of Antarctic literature, especially the writing of Apsley Cherry-Gerrard and Sara Wheeler. I probably come by this predilection honestly since my fisherman grandfather died in an August Gale, only 45 years old (as told in The Doryman). The loss of him has shaped and stayed with my family.

My fairy tale, Avalonia, will be published by Pennywell Books next year. But more about that later. In the meantime I will be doing readings and signings of Domino.