Review of RAGE THE NIGHT by Donna Morrissey (New Release)

 4 Stars

I’ve read and loved all of Donna Morrissey’s novels.  She is one of my favourite Canadian authors, and this, her latest book, only adds to my regard for her writing. 

It is 1914 in Newfoundland.  Twenty-year-old Roan is an orphan who has been raised and educated by Dr. Wilfred Grenfell, the renowned Newfoundland medical missionary.  A nurse’s deathbed confession has Roan discovering that his father may still be alive, so he sets out to discover the identity of that father and the truth behind his mother’s death.  He travels by dog sled from St. Anthony to Deer Lake and then takes a train to St. John’s.  Believing he has found his father, he follows him onto the SS Newfoundland, a ship heading to the sealing grounds for the spring hunt. 

I didn’t know about the history of the Newfoundland, one of the worse marine disasters in Newfoundland history, but as soon as Roan joins the sealers on the ship, I suspected there would be a tragedy.  I’ve read enough about the seal hunt to know of its dangers.  The conditions are not favourable as the Newfoundland keeps getting trapped in ice so the captain and the sealers are more and more desperate to find seals; the decision to have the men walk for hours to reach a herd just ramps up the suspense. 

The seal hunt is controversial, but it has been part of Newfoundland’s culture for generations.  Regardless of one’s position on the hunt, a reader will feel empathy for the sealers.  For them, the hunt means making some money to feed themselves and their families.  The living conditions on the ship are miserable; food is very basic and there’s not much of it.  Once the hunt begins, the dangers increase.  The men need to earn money and it is desperation that drives the men onto shifting ice. 

I love novels with a dynamic character and this one has Roan.  At the beginning, Roan loves solitude:  “Quiet.  He loved quiet.  Loved how it settled around him without shadow.”  He even tells a young woman he encounters that “We are best alone, Ila, we are best alone” and believes that “She will learn, as he has, not to fear aloneness.  She will learn that it is in solitude where one finds one’s courage.”  As a young boy, Roan was sent to a boarding school in Boston where he was an outcast because he was considered an orphan from the backwoods, but on the ship he is accepted by the men and bonds with them.  He learns that “our pathways through life are equally shaped by the others who sail with us” and realizes that he gathers courage “from living these past days among a brotherhood that breeds such courage out of misery that all things seem possible.”

Roan has other lessons to learn as well:  patience and humility.  The ship’s captain, for instance, is described as proud and one of the sealers says “’Men does strange things when they got that drivin ‘em.’”  Roan comes to recognize “his own naked pride” and acknowledges the presence of “his old pal vanity.”   Watching the sealers help and support each other, he becomes more compassionate and realizes the truth of Dr. Grenfell’s words that “What we give to others is the rent we pay for our room on this earth.”  Roan does uncover the truth of his birth, but it’s the other lessons that more profoundly affect his behaviour. 

Characterization in the novel is excellent.  Characters are flawed like real human beings:  keeping secrets, telling lies to themselves and others, and falling subject to misunderstandings.  Though there are few women, they are memorable.  Ila, though the same age as Roan, seems so much more mature, probably because of her life experiences.  But the most authentic for me are the sealers.  They speak in distinctive Newfoundland accents which I love, but it’s their supportive fellowship, resilience, and humour that stand out.  Even when miserable, they break out into song to bolster morale.  They watch out for and help each other.  They share equally what little they have, unlike captains who keep the best food for himself and unlike Roan who in the past succumbed to the “greed of hunger.”    

There is so much to recommend this novel:  a suspenseful plot, authentic characters, lots of local colour, lyrical descriptions, and thematic depth – all things I’ve found in all of Donna Morrissey’s novels.

Note:  I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.