Summers in Squid Tickle: A Newfoundland Odyssey

by Robert Finch

An acclaimed nature writer’s moving recollection of his two decades as a summer resident of a Newfoundland fishing village originally known as Squid Tickle.


Robert Finch arrived in Newfoundland in the summer of 1995 heartsick, directionless, his old life on Cape Cod in tatters. Burnside—traditionally known as Squid Tickle—seemed like a good place to heal. Located in the province’s rugged northeast, this coastal village was home to just fifty year-round residents. Drawn by a landscape of low ridges and archipelagos of rocky islands. Finch returned to Burnside each summer for its strong sense of community and the possibility that it might provide a new pattern for his new life.


Offering an exploration of the Newfoundland character and culture, Finch depicts how three generations of the village grappled with the changes of the past century. With characteristically elegant prose and deep sensitivity, he introduces us to Burnside’s inhabitants—and to the woman who would become his wife. Summers in Squid Tickle speaks to our era’s desire for quietude and a greater connection to the natural world and to each other.

Genres: Nonfiction, Autobiography, Memoir, Canada

320 pages, Hardcover

Published June 17, 2025

About the author

Robert Finch has lived on and written about Cape Cod for forty years. He is the author of six collections of essays and co-editor of The Norton Book of Nature Writing.

Reviews

[Michael G · Rating 4 out of 5]

I must be off to Newfoundland now, b’y. After reading this simple, honest, and elegant paean to the people of a small, remote fishing village, their stunningly beautiful surroundings, and their disappearing way of life, I don’t feel sad, but enriched to have shared in their experiences with the author, Robert Finch, in his last book. It was like reading about a heartwarming love affair with a people and a place and hoping it can last forever.

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soooooo many characters...but such thoroughly interesting people!!!

[Patti’s Pages]

I tried to persevere. Especially with a sheet of 50 names of characters. Yet, even then I couldn’t keep them straight.
The history, the landscaping and the culture of this piece of Newfoundland is quite interesting.
But that’s all there is to it. If there is a story, I did not get to it.
An abridged version would make a good tourism brochure.

[Joseph Reynolds · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author goes to Newfoundland and spends 20 summers there in a small former fishing village. The big cod stocks are gone but the people remain. They are odd and affecting and 'characters'. There's a line between diaries of your summer vacation and literature and I'm not sure Finch pulls it off. Sometimes the names get muddled you can't really keep track, and in the end you don't. Finch has occasional bursts of insight about nostalgia and 'the end of things' and how we view the world, and there are some lovely set pieces fishing off the islands or puttering around icebergs, but I'm not sure the book really works even though I would love for it to work. It often seems a bit shaggy, maybe that is deliberate, maybe not. If you've already read Finch (and I hadn't) on Cape Cod, etc maybe this is your jam. He passed away before book was published, and it's possible it needed more editing, hard to say. It's not bad. You can try it.

[Fpreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointed. At the beginning we are told Finch is forced to Newfoundland from Cape Cod for some existential reason. I never read why, although skimming much of the later chapters, I may have missed it; presumably it was divorce etc.

Anyway he and eventually new wife spend summers in this small town where the older people become good friends. They eventually die off and Finch and wife decide the newcomers ( from Toronto and Boston etc) who move in as summer people have little to offer so they sell and move.

Can we ask why they never spent a winter and became full time members of the community? Maybe they would have decided not to run away as soon as it became less familar.

All in all not much here

[Blaise Keller · Rating 4 out of 5]

From 1995 through 2017, Robert spends his summers at Squid Tickle, a small outport community on the east side of Newfoundland near both Burnside and Salvage. Leaving his past life in Cape Cod, he begins a new portion of his life outside of Burnside, Squid Island and the little tickle of water that separates the two. Throughout his time there, he meets those who’ve called this place home for years and learns about the rich history of the land and the people who continue to call it home.

The reader is taken on each summer journey with Robert; from renting out a house and climbing through the hole in the pantry, to catching his first cod, buying his first boat, his first home, to the deaths of his friends… Each one impacting Robert and the reader too.

In the short time it took me to read this book, I, too, felt like I was going to Squid Tickle each summer, cleaning up the house, saying hello to my neighbors I hadn’t seen in a year, going to each house for a cup of tea or for dinner and singing in the church as the bells rang. And after finishing the book, like Robert, I felt like my time at Squid Tickle had ended and it was time for a new adventure.

[Nate · Rating 1 out of 5]

I spoke to this guy and then I did this and then i did that and then . . . .zzzzz

While the book breezes along, the story is lost in the details because it's all about details, mindless and unimportant details. There's no conflict to prime the engine that any good story needs. There are merely bits of everyday life, supplemented by the history of the land and the histories of the people. It's like reading someone's diary with explanatory footnotes added. It's initially interesting until it becomes repetitive and full of particulars that matter not one whit, eg (at random): "Wayne has a slow timetable for his house. Last year they got the sauna tubes poured. This summer they plan to get the deck on. At this rate, it may be done for Willis' centennial." Does any of this matter to or amount to anything? Nope.

Sure, we all talk idly at times with friends and family, about nothing at all. It passes the time. But imagine reading someone else's 300 pages of reportage about people you don't know and their idle talk. Way too painful. DNF.

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started strong and with wonderful observations about the geography and quirky stories about the people. Toward the end, and this is shown in the shorter summer chapters, it loses steam. Similar to how the author and his eventual wife realized their time in Squid Tickle was coming to an end. He mourns those from the community who have passed and doesn't seem to bond with new folks. Is the energy required to make new friends and engage in relationship too hard as life goes on?

[Marian Hancock · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I appreciated about this book was learning about the community of Burnside, located in Newfoundland. It’s intriguing to read about the lives of those who make up that small community. This is essentially the author’s journal about his summers in Burnside, and it reads that way. I have to admit it got a little slow going at times, but I like the people, and it was almost like being there.

[Candie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely nothing “happens” in this book. It is about a place, a lifestyle and people. I found it entrancing. I let go of trying to keep track of who all the people were and how they were related and just enjoyed their stories. I hope that I make it to Newfoundland some day- in large part because of this book.

[Patsey]

The author is a nature writer and the parts of nature were quite beautiful. Unfortunately all the rest was so dry. He talked about the people of Squid Tickle with no soul. I read about 3 summers but that was all I could manage.

[Rosemary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this perspective on the importance of place and the gifts hunkering down into a community can provide. And also its recognition that growth can also cause us to move beyond what once provided sustenance.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the stories of life and the tickle!

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started great but got boring quick.

[Helen Geng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read December 2025

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit disappointing. Nothing much happens. I can't tell the inhabitants apart. I don't really like the narration either.

[Valerie Haggart · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found it very dry. I expected more Newfie humour and irony

[Derek Ford · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its like when you go back home for the holidays and your parents talk about people you never knew and the things they did back in the day. Hard to keep track or care too much.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit like "Under the Tuscan Sun" but set in Newfoundland and with more characters. Slight but charming.