The Weather Diviner

by Elizabeth Murphy

It’s 1942. With polished boots and bulging wallets, the Americans have come to defend a highly strategic location—Newfoundland: the Allies’ new transatlantic transportation hub. Like thousands of others chasing new opportunities, Violet Morgen abandons her remote outport home and heads to St. John's. An amateur forecaster with a powerful sixth sense for the island’s tempestuous winds and weather, Violet is determined to help the Americans fight the enemy. But determination, it turns out, is not enough.

Carefully crafted, entertaining, and informative, The Weather Diviner is a tale in which friends make a difference, weather makes for interesting conversation, and opportunity comes to those who dare to dream.

Genres: Canada, Historical Fiction, World War II

264 pages, Paperback

Published October 18, 2024

About the author

Goodreads is overpopulated with Elizabeth Murphy, authors. There’s a psychologist, a soil scientist, and one with more than 40 romance novels. I’m in good company. I'd like to be known as Elizabeth Murphy, author of The Weather Diviner, a novel dedicated to an island, Newfoundland, where the winds have a mind of their own.

Reviews

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Linda Churchill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this fine work of historical fiction….friends, weather, and romance…a great combination!

[Evelynkeirstead · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely story that I didn’t want to end. Written more as a journal for the year 1942, it tells the story of a young woman, Violet, who leaves her outport lighthouse to travel to St John’s shortly after the death of her father, the lighthouse keeper. With a keen knowledge of the challenging Newfoundland weather that she learned at her father’s knee and through her strong observational skills, she heads to St John’s hoping for a chance to put her skills to use, once the replacement lighthouse keeper arrives. Thus begins the well written and charmingly told story of Violet’s time in St John’s. The story will draw you in and you will wish as the story draws to an end that there was just a little bit more to read.

[Whatithinkaboutthisbook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review The Weather Diviner by Elizabeth Murphy

This is an exciting, fascinating and richly informative historical fiction novel that follows the coming of age journey of Violet, set against the immersive and atmospheric backdrop of Newfoundland during a time of profound transformation. Set in St. John’s, a prominent military port and airfield during WWII, the novel explores the impact of an influx of Canadian and American military. The novel vividly captures the community’s shift from a small tightly knit neighbourhood to one marked by cultural and religious friction, economic change and social tension. Newfoundland, still a British colony, becomes a space of both opportunity and unease, accompanied with the complex relationship between locals and newcomers.

Violet, raised in isolation as the daughter of a lighthouse keeper, was homeschooled by her father and developed a remarkable talent for divining the weather. After his passing she sets her sights on contributing to the war effort by assisting the military with her weather forecasting skills and sets off for St. Johns.

Violet is a wonderfully complex FMC, naive yet brilliant, determined, forthright, and unsophisticated. The book powerfully conveys her struggle to be taken seriously as a woman with deep, intuitive and unrecognized knowledge of the unique and tempestuous winds and weather of Newfoundland. Her friendships add depth to the story and highlight the broader themes of women’s agency, employment, intelligence, and the desire to have one’s work and worth acknowledged and valued.

The novel felt like a coming of age story for both Violet and Newfoundland. Both are at a crossroads, seeking independence, searching for identity, and an acknowledgement of their value and each faces uncertainty about how to forge their path.

This was a fantastic story featuring a unique and endearing main character you cant help love and root for. The compelling storytelling immerses you in an important chapter of history and offers a deeper appreciation for Newfoundland, and it’s role in the war. It makes you want to learn more about this rugged area and its people.

Thank you to Elizabeth Murphy and Breakwater books for the opportunity to read this book and provide my honest opinion.

[Nicole Dawe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book about a very interesting time in history for Newfoundland and Labrador and for women.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The Weather Diviner” takes place during the turbulent year of 1942 in Newfoundland when the city of St. John’s has become a strategic transportation hub for the Allies in WW2 and is burgeoning with Canadian and U.S. soldiers. It follows Violet Morgen who says goodbye to her remote outport home – where her father worked as lighthouse keeper until his death and she his unofficial assistant – and relocates to St. John’s.

An amateur weather forecaster with a sixth sense for the for the island’s wild weather swings, Violet’s ambition is to become a weather forecaster at the U.S. army base to do her part in the war effort. The barriers to her goal are higher than she anticipates forcing her to find other ways to make a living and build a life while she doggedly pursues her dream.

In summary, “The Weather Diviner” is a coming of age story against the backdrop of WW2 in a city undergoing a dramatic transformation. I place it in the category I refer to as “good but not great”.

[Elizabeth Yeoman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really wanted to hang out with Violet, Theresa, Ellen, Ida, Noreen and Mrs. Doyle a bit longer and felt sad when I'd finished the book. I also enjoyed the vivid depiction of St. John's (described by travel writer Jan Morris as "the most entertaining city in North America") and of women's lives in this remote yet central seaport during World War II. It's a wonderful story. I'd love to see it as a movie.

[Glenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish there were half stars as I'd love to give this one a 4.5/5 but there are not, so I will bump it up to 5/5. This is the story of Violet Morgen, a young woman who sets off from rural NL to St. John's in hopes of working as a weather diviner for the Allied forces during WWII.

The things I loved most about the book were the ways in which it did not become predictable. There were several set up scenes where I expected a traditional outcome and was always so happy to be wrong.

[Marie Wadden · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well-crafted tale of an intrepid young woman’s adventures in WWll St. John’s, Newfoundland, during the “invasion” of U.S. servicemen who used the island as a staging centre for its air and sea defences. It will resonate strongly with anyone who lived through this. It was possible to enjoy the war if you were a young woman who lived this far away from the front lines.

[Jim Fisher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let's see...I'm 75% finished and nothing has happened to move this story along. I'm done. The two stars are solely for the depiction of St. John's during WW II.