The Fortunate Brother

Sylvanus Now #3

by Donna Morrissey

A powerful tale of a family reeling from the tragic loss of a son, while facing a mysterious murder on their doorstep--told by one of Canada's most beloved voices.

After being uprooted from their fishing outport, the Now family is further devastated by the tragic loss of their eldest son, Chris, who died working on an Alberta oil rig. Kyle Now is still mourning his older brother when the murder of a local bully changes everything. The victim's blood is found on the family's pier, and suspicion falls first on an alienated wife, and then finally on the troubled Now family.

But behind this new turmoil, Chris's death continues to plague the family. Father Sylvanus Now drowns his sorrow in a bottle, while mother Addie is facing breast cancer. And the children fight their own battles as the tension persists between Kyle and his sister, Sylvie, over her role in their brother's death.

A cast of vivid characters surrounds the Now family, some intriguing, others comical--all masterfully crafted. As the murder mystery unfolds, other deeper secrets are revealed. Wise in the ways of the heart, The Fortunate Brother is a moving family drama from beloved storyteller Donna Morrissey."

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Mystery, Crime, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Book Club

260 pages, Paperback

First published September 6, 2016

About the author

Donna Morrissey has written six nationally bestselling novels. She has received awards in Canada, the U.S., and England. Her novel Sylvanus Now was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and she was nominated for a Gemini for best writing for the film Clothesline Patch. Her fiction has been translated into several different languages. Born and raised in Newfoundland, she now lives in Halifax.
She recently wrote a children’s book, Cross Katie Kross, illustrated by her daughter, Bridget. Morrissey grew up in The Beaches, a small fishing outport in Newfoundland & Labrador and now lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Reviews

[Paromjit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a bleak, atmospheric and moving family saga and murder mystery. Set amongst a small coastal community in Newfoundland, Canada, at the heart of the story is the Now family. It is the first book of the trilogy that I read and I did feel my experience would have been significantly enhanced had I read the preceding two books. It is a character driven story that dwells on loss, grief, guilt and the struggles to keep the family together in the face of tragedies and turmoil.

The Now family have suffered a devastating knockback with the death of their eldest son, Chris, who dies on a oil rig in Alberta. The central focus is on Kyle Now, the youngest family member, otherwise known as the 'fortunate' brother simply because he is alive. There is isolation, silence, guilt and conflict within the family. Sylvanus, the father, hits the bottle to subsume his grief, the guilt ridden Sylvie leaves and the one person that epitomises hope, the mother, Addie, has to contend with further trials and tribulations. Kyle tries do his best to look after and protect the family but he is barely holding it together. To exacerbate matters, an abusive and bullying local man is murdered and his blood is discovered on the family pier. There are secrets and lies told in this beautifully written story as we learn what lies behind the murder. Hanging over the entire novel is the ghost of Chris.

This is a compelling read by an author with a real talent for writing. She captures the harsh life and landscape of the location well along with an air of claustrophobia. She is particularly successful in her characterisations, with the emotional depth and fraught emotions in a family that is grieving and suffering deep schisms. I just wish I had read her other books first. Many thanks to Canongate for an ARC.

[Louise Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not realise until I started reading this book that it is the third book in the trilogy.

The story is about the Now family who are mourning the death of their son Chris who died while working on an Alberto Oil Rig. Sylvanus (the father)!has turned to alcohol, Abbie (the mother) is facing breast cancer and Kyle (the son) relationship with his sister Sylvie is strained. Then the local bully is murdered and suspicion is on the Now family.

The book is mixed with suspense, emotion, loyalty and tragedy. It has also covered love, guilt and grief and the families bond. I wish I had read the first two books before this one but I do think this can be read as a standalone.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Canongate Books and the author Donna Morrissey for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while) · Rating 4 out of 5]

EXCERPT: . . . his father had been sick - heart attack from working himself to death fishing for cod that were too scarce to pay the bills and so he doubled his workload with cutting and hauling logs for the sawmills too. Heart just up and called it quits. New boat and new truck parked out by the door like hungry dogs, growling for their bank payments. And Sylvie. Good, good Sylvie stepping up to the fates. Came flying from her high paying job of the oil soaked fields of Alberta like Persephone, Lord of Underground Wealth. Took Chris back with her to the oil fields to help wrestle those snarling dogs and six weeks later Chris was dead.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: The Fortunate Brother is a dark, atmospheric and compelling novel about the aftermath of a murder in a claustrophobic rural community in Newfoundland. When a body is found in the lake suspicion falls on the troubled Now family. As the mystery unfolds other, far deeper, secrets are revealed. Compassionate and wise, beautiful and brutal, The Fortunate Brother is the story of a family and a community in turmoil and confirms Donna Morrissey's place as one of Canada's foremost storytellers.

MY THOUGHTS: I almost put off reading The Fortunate Brother by Donna Morrissey. I am glad I didn't. Initially, I struggled with the cadence of the writing. Totally my problem. But then a little ways in, I got it and never looked back. In fact I became consumed by this raw and brutal book, its rough and uncouth characters who have little, if any, beauty in their lives.

Life in this small hamlet in Newfoundland is harsh. As are the people towards one another. And yet they are also loyal. Protective of one another. The author paints a bleakly atmospheric picture of the Nows, their friends and family, their struggles, the landscape in which they live. Alcohol abuse and spousal abuse are just a regular part of the day.

There is a passage towards the end of the book that describes my feelings perfectly - 'He looked like an old sailor who'd weathered a great storm and was now safely anchored to a pier of his own making. ' Substitute 'felt' for 'looked', and that's how I felt at the end of the book.

Thank you to Cannongate Books via Netgalley for providing a digital copy of The Fortunate Brother by Donna Morrissey for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the 'about' page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system.

This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

[Zuky the BookBum · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I’m pretty terrible at writing reviews for literary fiction novels because I’m not particularly eloquent and I feel like you need to be for these books! So please excuse the lack of detail in the following review…

I picked this novel up not really sure what to expect from it. I suppose I imagined a slow-moving murder-mystery with a strong focus on the characters. And guess what? This is a mystery literary fiction, so that’s exactly what I got!

This was a slow going novel, and there is never really a point (until maybe right at the end) where the pace picks up, so you slowly plod along through the story. As to be expected really, when the story is based in a run-down, slightly behind the time’s little village. However, after around 20 minutes of reading, I already found myself immersed in the story and its characters.

Before going into this book, I hadn’t realised it was the end of a trilogy. It doesn’t say anywhere on the actual book that it’s part of a series, and honestly, it read perfectly fine as a standalone novel. I think one of the things that could be benefitted from starting this series from book 1 is that connection and background information you get about some of the characters.

As with most literary fiction, this is a stunningly beautifully written book, with picturesque descriptions and in-depth, realistic characters. Kyle and his family in this novel are brutally honest portrayals of people living in small, reasonably poor towns and their family relationship was beautifully real.

In terms of the story, this was nothing revolutionary but it was interesting to watch the events unfold and see how everyone’s stories came together to conclude the murder of a villager. I can’t say the reveal of the murderer was particularly clever or surprising, but I felt the why was far more interesting.

Overall I really enjoyed this read. Although it was emotional (I cried at the end) and quite poignant, as it touches on some difficult subjects, it was still an easy book to read.

Thanks to Netgalley and Canongate Books for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.

[Nigel · Rating 4 out of 5]

In brief - simple story maybe but great writing.

In full
I'd not read any previous stories by Donna Morrissey so was looking forward to reading this book. This is the story of the Now family who live in an outport in Newfoundland. I had to check on the word "outport" however I quickly discovered that it refers to a small fishing village usually in Newfoundland. Kyle and his family, immediate and extended, come over as very ordinary in the nicest sense of the word. The family has seen tragedy though and this leaves a shadow over them. The death of someone not generally liked in the outport makes for the main part of this story although there are other minor tales interwoven with that.

From the start I found the writing wonderfully descriptive. I thought it caught a mood or a feel for place and time very well. The more I read the more compelling the story telling became. I quickly found myself completely immersed in the story of everyday lives, likes, loves and hates in a small town environment.

At times this tale is tender and emotional, at times wryly humourous, at times macho and blokey. It is always very human and accessible. As someone from the other side of the pond I did find some of the colloquial writing - both words and style - took a little getting used to. However while the story here is quite simple, the telling is not and makes for a great read. I confess at times I did wonder just how fortunate the "fortunate brother" really was but I really liked the character of Kyle. I'd like to read more of Donna Morrisey's work based on this although I did find the end didn't quite live up to the standard of the rest of the book.

Note - I received an advance digital copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair review

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

You remember what I says. You're the fortunate one. You still gets to be with us for a bit longer. The other one – well, he's watching on, somewhere. But we gets to live the riddle a bit longer. Hey, b'y? That's good, isn't it?

Someone asked me the other day what I was reading and I answered that I was immersed in some great Newfie fiction. She looked at me bemusedly and said, “Are you saying that you think 'Newfie fiction' is a genre of its own?” Well, duh. Newfoundland is so removed from the rest of Canada – by geography, psychology, history; even their time zone is a curious half hour ahead of the rest of the Maritimes – that they have a unique perspective on the world, and a unique vocabulary for writing about it. I have long loved Newfie fiction, so it's odd that I've never before read Donna Morrisey; and what's saddest about that fact is that I hadn't realised that The Fortunate Brother is the third book in a series, and although it 100% stands on its own, I can't help the feeling that this reading experience would have been even richer had I already read the first two volumes. I can say: after finishing this book, and despite knowing how the whole saga ends, I am looking forward to going back and reading Morrissey's previous work.

She gave a dismissive shrug. But she was choking with words, he could tell. Just like Sylvie. Choking with words. Wanting to talk about things. Things about Chris and the accident. Things about him, Kyle. Things about themselves. And he never knew what things they wanted to tell him and have him tell them and he bloody didn’t care about them things. Just leave it alone, leave it the bloody hell alone. Christ, he was working on getting things out of his head, not shoving more in.

As The Fortunate Brother is the third in the series, it opens with a family being driven apart by previously disclosed grief: The father, Sylvanus, shakes and weeps and drinks to forget his losses; the daughter, Sylvie, has flown to the other side of the world to get herself back together; the son, Kyle, frequently runs into the woods crying, tries to take care of his father, shield his mother, and refuses to acknowledge his own pain; and the mother, Addy, reaches out to the others, only forcing them to flee in panic. Even without having read the first two books, the family dynamics are immediately made clear, and the grief and pain touched me from the start. Nearly immediately two new tragedies are introduced to the family: Addy is forced to reveal that she has breast cancer on the eve of her mastectomy; and the town bully (previously seen antagonising the family, his girlfriend, his devoted dog, and everyone else in this remote coastal community of a handful of homes) is found dead, floating in the cove off the family's wharf. Because both Sylvanus and Kyle had been blackout drunk the night of Clar's murder, the community concocts alibis for them, and after each of them recite the lies to the investigating police officers, they are forced to commit to the untruths even as the stories become ever more unlikely and increasingly self-incriminating in the face of new evidence. So, what begins as a character study of a family in pain becomes a murder mystery, and the two formats mesh together seamlessly.

Everybody and their dog had moved on from those days of hand-fishing and hauling nets but his father mourned as he would a fresh dead mother. There's them who can't change with the times and those who won't, his mother told him. And your father's both kinds.

As for the writing, Morrissey not only captured the grief perfectly (I kept crying at the truth of it), but she also had me laughing every time a group of young men would get together at the local bar and tease and snipe at each other with that caustic Newfie wit I love so much. And like with all great Newfie fiction, Morrissey conveys her love of the harsh landscape with a unique sense of language:

Across the river, massive wooded hills of the northern peninsula sighed through the fog. A long flagging reached downriver and the water buckled against the northern cliff wall, pooling itself into dead black depths before elbowing out of sight through a thicket of still leafless alders and drowning itself into the sea just beyond.

Here's my only complaint: at the same time as the mystery was unravelling, extraneous characters were introduced (an aunt and uncle, the daughter's boyfriend, harsh and unloving fathers from generations past), and although they didn't really have anything to do with the current plot, I got the sense that they were brought in just to tie up loose ends from the overall trilogy. This muddled things for me – I'd rather a murder mystery pick up steam and charge to a conclusion once it starts rolling – and I can't tell if this would have been a more satisfying experience for people who read the books in the right order (and for that matter, I can't tell if the solution was earned from the entire trilogy; it didn't really satisfy me based on this book alone). Of course Newfie fiction is its own genre, and The Fortunate Brother is a worthy entry to the canon. I'd recommend this book as broadly appealing, and although it certainly does stand alone, I'll say again that I can't help but think that it would be most satisfying if one read these books in order.

[Doreen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third in a trilogy which began with Sylvanus Now and was followed by What They Wanted. Readers who are familiar with the Now family will want to read this third installment, but the book can certainly be read as a standalone.

This book focuses on Kyle Now who is still mourning the death of his brother Chris who died working on an Alberta oil rig. The family is a troubled one. Sylvanus, the father, takes refuge in alcohol; Abbie, the mother, is facing breast cancer; and Kyle’s relationship with his sister Sylvie is strained because of what he sees as her role in Chris’ death. Then a local bully, Clar Gillard, is murdered and suspicion falls on the Now family with whom he has had confrontations.

Characterization is amazing. All characters are fully developed, round characters, their traits consistent with those in the first two books of the trilogy. Kyle is a dynamic character. At the beginning he sees nothing positive in the world: “Felt like the one long day for three years now. The one long dull day, caught on a cloud of grief hovering over his house.” He has no hope: “Nope. Kyle Now was done with wishing.” He does not talk and share his grief with others but worries about everyone else, his constant fingernail-chewing and foot-jiggling clearly indicating his tension. His typical response is to run: “he’d pushed [Sylvie] away and ran and was still running. Running from everything.” The novel shows how Kyle goes from such desperation to finally running towards someone and seeing the beauty around him: “The moon’s broadening smile rose above the hills and glimmered amongst stars that were mostly dead and yet whose lights still shone through the eternal sky.”

Kyle’s foil is his mother. Addie, despite all her troubles, always remains hopeful. Chris is “struck once more by her fortitude. That whatever this new thing thickening her cloud of sorrow, hope was already ignited in her heart and offering itself as a shelter for him and his father.” The contrast is obvious when Kyle is described: “But he was done with hope. It took her babies and Chris and he had no more courage for hope. Hope had failed her too many times. Rather that she had never hoped. Rather that it was just those babies she grieved and not the pain of lost hope as well.” Kyle needs to learn what Addie has, that “hope eventually creeps through darkness, making inroads through to an easier tomorrow” and that “’There’s good to be found in everything, even grief.’”

There are, of course, other lessons that Kyle must learn: “’Some people have illness, everybody has something. It’s how you carries it – that’s what you take into the other world with you. That’s the only thing we takes’” and “’You can’t go getting down and blaming yourself for stuff you got no control over’” and “’You needs to be like everyone else, tending to your own concerns.’” I love the references to Job: “’We’re blessed like Job then, when we feels the fear of something and does it anyway’” and “’we’re sainted like Job when we can stand the pain and thrive in the end.’” A person may be given advice but does not necessarily listen, and part of the interest of the novel is in seeing if/how Kyle will learn these lessons.

As suggested, a major theme is that of hope. It is introduced in the epigraph, a quotation from George Eliot’s Adam Bede: “There is no despair so absolute as that which comes with the first moments of our first great sorrow, when we have not yet known what it is to have suffered and be healed, to have despaired and to have recovered hope.” Repetition is used to emphasize the need for hope: “’And you can’t lose hope, either. You got to trust some things’” and “’Hope’s a powerful thing. It’s what takes us into the next world, hopes of a better life’” and “’There’s always hope’” and “Hope’s contagious like that: if one believes, then another might.”

It is not just characterization and theme development that are amazing. There is such pleasure in reading Morrissey’s style. The dialogue is truly that of a Newfoundland outport. The images are also wonderful. An abstract like guilt is made concrete: “Guilt rotting him like an old shack built on wet ground, leaving no shores strong enough to shelter himself or his family.” And descriptions of setting say so much: “Sulphuric smells rose from a smoking pulp mill that headed the harbour while nice shingled homes and shops and oak trees encircled the mill’s land side as ribs might encircle the life-giving heart.”

I strongly recommend this book; it is literary fiction at its best. If you haven’t read Sylvanus Now and What They Wanted, read them first, but if you have been fortunate enough to meet the Now family, reunite with them by reading The Fortunate Brother. You will not be disappointed.

Note: I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.

Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).

[SueLucie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review copy courtesy of Canongate Books via NetGalley, many thanks.

I haven’t read the previous two books in the series so came to this fresh. There is plenty of back-story to be fed in and I have no idea how this would suit people who had read the whole series, but for me it meant I could read the book as a stand-alone. I was sucked into the lives of the inhabitants of the small coastal community from the first page - a superb feat of characterisation - and was rooting for them all, even the least likeable personalities. The story is a whodunit with great emotional atmosphere and it rollicks along at a tremendous pace. Highly recommended.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

All my reviews can be found on my blog at www.whatsbetterthanbooks.com

Intriguing, poignant, and deeply moving!

This story is steeped in the rugged history, hardships, landscape, dialogue, and culture that is unique to Newfoundland.

The writing is smooth and flawless. The characters are grounded, raw, hardy and loyal. And the plot has a nice mix of suspense, tragedy, and emotion.

It is, ultimately, a murder-mystery that takes us on a subtle journey through loss, love, grief, guilt, perseverance, community dynamics, and family relationships.

This is definitely a well written, character-driven novel, by a respected Canadian author, that shouldn’t be missed.

Thank you to NetGalley, especially Penguin Random House Canada, for providing me with a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

[Kathy Stinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

How is it that Donna Morrissey can take you inside characters whose lives are so bleak, and yet somehow, you love being there?

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I heard a saying recently that we read books to eascape, to get away from it all. I read books from many places that I have traveled to or would like to go some day. For me this book wasn't quite what I expected.

Being set in rural Newfoundland, this book is still far from where I am in urban Canada. Donna Morrissey captures the mood, the dialect, the rough and tough lives of these hardy people. Yet, I also found it a challenge to read, to understand and sometime, even to be empathetic towards the characters. And to be honest, I almost packed it in after the first 40 pages.

But then a murder occurred. And we all want to find out who did it? So I carried on.

So we deal with this troubled family where the past constantly haunts them. Everyone has a secret. They lie, they spread stories; the mistrust is rampant. For some, this makes for great fodder for a story. Add the murder and even more fodder.

For me, I lost track how many times I reread a section to understand what they were actually talking about. In the end, the flavour of the place just lost me and I had little sympathy for most of the characters. Morrissey's resolution worked but it was a tough slog.

The book was good but not great. For others they may really like this book.

[Susan Hampson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel was full of surprises for me, from the wonderful language of Newfoundland Canada that flowed effortless as I read it, to the dramatic landscape that felt like it would never be tame no matter how many people lived there, to finding out that this is the third book in a trilogy that I had read and loved as a stand alone novel. Just wow, wow, wow.  
I met the Now family, broken beyond repair through a life time of tragic events that they found impossible to share, even though they had all experienced them. They all harboured unwarranted guilt, that compelled them to punish themselves on a daily basis, that forced them to go round in circles rather than move forward. There were times when the self loathing over flowed and hurt those around them even more.  When a local bully is found murdered it isn't long before suspicions  fall on the Now family and with yet another crisis going on too will they all be able to survive?
What a cracking murder mystery this is.  I think that I could have happy admitted to killing of this vile man myself. I loved the rugged descriptions in this book, the short cuts to be avoided by night because that was when the darkness let the wilderness regain its power from this small community with its back against the shore. It felt like two time zones one through the day and the other at night. There was a strong sense of  community, if someone had a problem it rippled through the whole town like they didn't even have to be told, the Now family just needed to learn how to let them in.
This is a brilliant story that deals with so many emotional family issues while the world carries on spinning. Super!

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This powerful, beautiful book is one of my favourites so far this year. The latest novel about the fascinating Now family of a fictional Newfoundland small town, it picks up the plot lines started in previous books, Sylvanus Now and What They Wanted, and carries forward. You don't need to have read either of the two previous books, though, to enjoy this one.
The plot consists of two main threads. Matriarch Addie Now has developed breast cancer, and it throws the family into turmoil. They still haven't come to terms with the death of son and brother Chris Now in an Alberta oil patch accident. At the same time, Addie has forged an unlikely friendship with battered woman Bonnie Gilland, whose tormentor is murdered early in the novel. The plots twine slowly towards a conclusion of both issues.
What I love most about Donna Morrissey's writing is her innate ability to conjure a sense of place and time. A three-page description of repartee between ordinary Newfoundlanders in a local bar was so real that I felt right there, smelling the beer, hearing the local band plunk out a cover of a Creedence Clearwater Revival song. When Sylvanus and Kyle had moments of tenderness together, when they held each other and cried, I cried too, I shared their emotions. I'm welling up as I write this.
This author is one of my favourites. I look forward to each book and plan to catch up with her other novels as well.

[DeB · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Fortunate Son is the third and I imagine the final novel in a trilogy which I very much loved. The characters in the first two books seemed to take on mythic proportions, their passions, crushing defeats and resolute courage framed up against the wild sea and craggy landscape of Newfoundland.

These themes are central to The Fortunate Son as well. The Now family is at odds with one another, separated by grief. The murder of an abusive husband creates unsettling suspicion and spurs secretive alliances which upend Kyle Now, the youngest Now family member.

The story is intensely focussed on Kyle. The sense of place which Morrissey so artfully has brought alive in her earlier novels, and which I loved so much, didn't come through here. Her supporting cast, though interesting, were incompletely developed to serve the mystery at the centre of her plot. I wished for so much more from them.

Morrissey' novel just didn't fully deliver for me. It finishes the story of the Nows, and ties things up, but I simply didn't feel that sense of being lifted to a plane of the profound as I have with Morrissey's earlier novels.

[Mairead Hearne (swirlandthread.com) · Rating 4 out of 5]

'A rich and compelling novel about murder in a claustrophobic Newfoundland community from bestselling and award-winning novelist Donna Morrissey'

There is an immediate feeling of bleakness and desolation in the opening pages of The Fortunate Brother that runs through this novel that Donna Morrissey portrays so well.

Kyle Now is a young man on the cusp of spreading his wings, with the possibility of taking up a place in college. Trying to cope with the aftermath of losing his brother in a tragic accident, Kyle remains in a constant state of angst. Living at home with his mother Addie and his father Sylvanus, Kyle seems to be almost lost as he watches his father unable to cope with the loss of his son turn to the bottle for solace.

The community they live in is one of greyness and despondency where the daily activities of life is a drudge and portrays the very harsh realities of living in such an isolated society. This is a rural community who look out for each other in times of anguish and celebrate together in times of joy.
An unexpected discovery of a dead body throws the community into disarray. With the finger of guilt pointing to the Now family, they close ranks as the police look for the evidence that will point to the murderer.

The Now family have been through a very rough period. With some additional personal issues to be dealt with, their lives are harsh and exhausting to witness.

As the story unfolds we are exposed to the grueling stories of others within this rural ‘outport’ as they too have challenging lives to lead.

But…and here’s the thing, throughout all the brutal starkness as you turn the pages, there is a sense of forgiveness, of purpose, of love and ultimately of hope….

There are many who will struggle with this novel as there is a very stark thread running through the story. The conversations between the locals is very much driven by dialect and it does take time to immerse yourself in the writing.

But take my word once you do you will find yourself transported and completely engrossed by the lives of this strong resilient community. The sense of place is so strong in this book where it is so obvious that Donna Morrissey is writing from the heart and from experience.

For anyone looking for a literary style read, The Fortunate Brother may be just what you are looking for and one I most certainly recommend

[D.A. Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donna's writing about her family in Newfoundland continues to refresh like a splash of salt sea air. She is so good at transporting the reader to the scene, bringing her characters to life, laying out the story.
That said, this book won lots of awards for mystery writing, and that puzzles me. We have many many wonderful mystery writers in Canada and as a mystery, Donna's book doesn't really fit.
I enjoyed the book very much, but not a mystery...

[Liz Barnsley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an atmospheric and deeply claustrophobic tale - it had a very literary tone to the writing and a story that flowed out slowly but very beautifully. Full review near publication.

[Renée Doiron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of promise and very much enjoyed the local patois but I felt like the plot devolved 3/4 of the way through and just became a vehicle for the interesting Newfoundland dialect.

[Penny (Literary Hoarders) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars?
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the advanced reading copy of The Fortunate Brother. It had a strong premise, and I own so many of Morrissey's novels, it was a no brainer to request this one. The Fortunate Brother is filled with mainly dialogue and a lengthy amount of time to come to the denouement that was long previously figured out. The beginning was strong, the entire How family is overwhelmed with their grief at the loss of their son and brother, but once the murder of the town bully happens, it resorts to a dialogue-heavy-drawn-out tale.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: uprooted from their Newfoundland outport, the Now family is mourning their son's loss when a local bully is murdered.

[Paula Dembeck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third and final novel in the Sylvanus Now trilogy with the brother of the title being Kyle, Chris Now’s younger brother. As readers return to the Hampden outport in Newfoundland they find a family tangled up in grief, as a heavy cloud of sadness hangs over the entire house. Each family member is isolated in their loneliness, unable to reach out to the others to give or receive comfort.

Sylvie and Ben have gone off back backing and prowling the savannahs in Africa, leaving their friend Trapp behind. He continues to roam the neighbourhood in the darkness of night, never speaking to anyone and vanishing before sunup, prowling the dark places he once lived. He was the last one to see Chris alive on the oil rig in Alberta before the terrible accident that took his friend’s life.

Sylvanus is drinking heavily, using liquor to fix the pain that constantly gnaws at his insides. He hasn’t said Chris’s name in the three years since they buried him. Addie’s face is shrouded in sorrow as she quietly suffers her loss. She misses Gran who died quietly in her sleep a year after they lost Chris. Addie has breast cancer and is facing surgery, chemo and radiation to give her some hope for a few extra years. She knows she is losing Sylvanus to drink and threatens to abandon treatment if he does not stop drinking. She is determined not to have her final years ruined by his dance with the bottle.

Kyle continues to mourn his brother, finding it difficult to deal with his loss and a grief so deep he cannot talk about it. He tries to stop his father’s drinking but has run out of words as his father nips from his whiskey bottle from dawn till dusk, despite Kyle’s protests.

There is a new member in their community. Kate Mackenzie is a guitar player and a singer song writer who has “come from away” to live in a small old cabin near the sea. Kyle enjoys visiting her. She is friendly and open and a pleasant reprieve from the grief and sadness that hangs in every room at home.

No one understands why Bonnie Gillard stays with her abusive husband Clar. A big, mean, muscular man, he has beaten her many times and left her with broken bones and bruises, yet she refuses to report him to the police. She has recently become friendly with Addie who has been urging her to report Clar, yet Bonnie continues to be steadfast in her refusal to do so. When Clar is fatally stabbed no one in the community mourns the loss. The bully whose malicious and cruel attacks were aimed at others besides his wife will no longer hassle anyone and no one is sad at his passing. But the police must investigate the crime and there are many suspects including both Kyle and Sylvanus whose friends quickly collude with each other to fabricate alibis for them.

Clar’s dead body washed up on the Now Family’s wharf and both Kyle and his father had altercations with him just before his murder. Kyle had a fight with him in a bar the night he died and Sylvanus also had a run-in with him accusing him of desecrating his beloved son’s grave. Bonnie, who was seen weeping in Addie’s kitchen also had good reasons to see her tormentor gone. These circumstances complicate matters for Sergeant MacDuff who is investigating the case and sifting through whatever evidence he can find to piece together the events the night Car Gillard died.

As the truth comes out about Gillard’s death, other hidden secrets are revealed, secrets which ultimately help the Now family deal with the loss of the son and the brother they so dearly loved.

This volume, unlike others in the trilogy is also a mystery. It is told from Kyle’s point of view, so the reader shares his conflicting thoughts and emotions as we see everything through his eyes. As the novel progresses and the murder is solved, each member of the Now family takes steps in the healing process and begins to recover from their grief. As the trilogy ends they are at least reaching out to one another and talking about their loss rather than suffering in isolation on their own. And Kyle takes some hesitant but important steps towards maturity as well as dealing with the loss of his beloved brother.

Morrissey once again places her readers firmly in the unique Newfoundland setting with her descriptions of the beautiful but hard and difficult landscape and the distinctive speech patterns of her expertly rendered dialogue. The interactions of members of a small close knit community who instinctively try to protect their friends and family during a police investigation help define a culture and set a somber mood but also helps bring the trilogy to a satisfying conclusion.

This final book matched the quality of the two that preceded it with well defined characters, a captivating narrative and excellent writing.

[Karan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read the previous two, found the dialect a bit off-putting. Not the best of her's I've read; admittedly I was a bit distracted while reading.

[Linda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The family is uprooted from their fishing village in Newfoundland , dealing with the tragic loss of a son and the illness of their mother. As if this wasn't enough, the murder of a local bully changes their lives. This is a very sad, depressing story.

[Jim Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, rounded up. A good story, authentic characters and an Outport setting combine to create an elevated work of contemporary fiction.

[Anya Leonard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good writing, however I was unaware that to understand this book I should have read the previous two novels in the series. Wasn't caught up with any of the characters, unfortunately. Tried to give the book a chance but I think it's just not for me, unless I read the previous two.

[Kelsey H · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atmospheric book about a family and how the past affects the present. Strong descriptions of the woods and area the community live in. The kind of book where you want to "who done it".

[Mary Lou · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Fortunate Brother is the third book in a trilogy about Kyle Now,who lives with his parents in a remote and rugged outport community in Newfoundland. The family is struggling, two years on, to come to terms with their grief at the death of Kyle’s brother Chris in an accident on the oil rigs.
When an unpopular local man is killed near Kyle’s home, the community closes in, providing alibis for their friends and neighbours. But this incident also highlights how distant Kyle and his father have become, as, unable to discuss it, each one worries if the other has had some part to play in the death.
For a reader with no knowledge or understanding of the terrain or the culture of this community, this novel is probably a tough first step. The characters and the story are dark. Kyle, as narrator, gives very little away, it’s the type of character he is, but the result is that empathy with him, or any other character is slow to develop. The best part of the novel is in the form of dialogue, which feels harsh and broke to this foreigner’s ear.
As Kyle tries to clear his head, stumbling through mud and brambles trying to find answers, the overcast skies start to clear. What starts as a bleak hopeless situation is turned around, coming as a relief, but perhaps a bit more quickly resolved than expected.
Thanks to Canongate Books and Netgalley for this ARC.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an advance review copy courtesy of NetGalley and Canongate Books in return for an honest review.

The story is a combination of family drama and murder mystery but the mystery element doesn’t feel tacked on because the way the various characters react to events (in particular the main protagonist, Kyle) seems believable given their state of mind. The unseen but ever present emotional heart of the book is Chris, Kyle’s brother, who has died in an oil rig accident before the book opens. In various ways, all the family are struggling to cope with their grief and/or guilt at his death. In particular, Kyle – seen as the “fortunate brother” because he’s still alive. Morrissey adeptly plays out how the surviving family members are driving themselves apart when they are at greatest need of coming together: (“Too isolated in their loneliness to feel the good still left to them.”) Although bleak at times, this was an engrossing read.

You can also find my review here: https://whatcathyreadnext.wordpress.c...

[Donna Wellard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh how I love, love, love stories that emanate from the language, landscape and culture of Newfoundland & Labrador. The trilogy of the Now family comes to a close in this great book - with verifiable hope for the future (thank goodness)-against all odds and after an awful bloody time of it! I love these no-nonsense, hardy, straight talking, loyal characters. They come alive on the page for me and even though there is sorrow and grief there is also great heart and humour. Not only is The Fortunate Brother a great family saga, I also really enjoyed the murder-mystery element. The who-dunnit only really came clear in the last few pages so this added element to the story will have you reading this book quickly. I think it was a great addition to the story. Here's to author Donna Morrissey. Thank you for writing such a great book. Loved it!!

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have always loved reading Donna Morrissey's novels, but this one was a particular treat for me, as I have just returned from a trip to Newfoundland and could so vividly picture the setting. I now know what patridgeberry and bakeapple are, and what they taste like. I have experienced run-ins with moose who saunter along the road. I have heard the waves crashing against the rocks on a foggy day. Donna Morrissey already does an excellent job conveying all this but it was a bonus for me to have actually seen, heard, tasted it all in the flesh.