Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In a remote town on the northern coast of Newfoundland in the early 19th century, a mutually despising brother and sister fight dirty for control of the area’s fishing and mercantile concerns. The loathsome Abe Strapp is set to inherit his father’s business and merge it with a rival’s outfit through an arranged marriage to the England-born merchant’s 14-year-old daughter, who’s been painfully transported “across the pond” for the wedding. But Strapp’s steely older sister, the Widow Caines, puts the kibosh on the marriage by exposing Strapp as a degenerate who drunkenly raped a servant girl and left her pregnant. From there on, the siblings will stop at nothing to outmaneuver and out-humiliate each other, with the supremely manipulative Widow Caines holding a clear advantage. In her “man’s uniform” of green jacket and waistcoat, she’s taken control of her late husband’s land holdings in spite of women having no legal claims to the ownership of property. Set in the town of Mockbeggar, like Crummey’s previous novel, The Innocents (2019), the tale is full of tragic turns: murders, deaths from a pandemic, death and destruction from a vicious storm, marauders, a gruesome amputation. There’s a Dickensian element to the “debauchery, drunkenness, whoring, gaming, profuseness, and the most foolish, sottish prodigality imaginable,” but Crummey boasts his own prodigious powers of description, cutting humor, and explorations of good and evil in his descent to the lower depths. (He has said he was inspired by William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience.) His language is ceaselessly entertaining, with characters including “cork-brained calf-lollies” and “noddypeak simpletons” and ones named Cheater, Deady, and Terrified. The sheer energy of the novel never flags. It’s the latest superb effort by an author who couldn’t be more deserving of greater recognition beyond his native Canada. An enthralling masterpiece. Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
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Crummey (The Innocents) offers a spellbinding novel of cutthroat sibling rivalry in remote late-19th-century Mockbeggar, Newfoundland, where the desolation of the “gaunt, ascetic coastline” is as much an adversary to locals as the story’s primary antagonist, Abe Strapp. A diabolical reprobate, Abe shows up late to his own wedding, an arranged marriage to the 14-year-old daughter of a rival merchant. The ceremony is cut short by an objection from Abe’s older sister, the Widow Caines, who claims Abe raped a young servant named Imogen Purchase. Imogen is four months pregnant, and Abe, a notorious drunk, doesn’t remember if he forced himself on her as charged. As the story unfolds, Crummey teases out the widow’s machinations, showing how she manipulates Abe to get the upper hand on their competing fisheries and mercantile concerns. Abe marries Imogen instead of his intended bride, and as he simmers with anger at his sister, the plot builds toward a violent conclusion. Along with a vivid setting and memorable characters, Crummey impresses with his dexterous use of language to convey the time period. (Though the widow’s late husband was “even-handed and generous,” most locals had a different take: “He’d lend his arse and shit through his ribs, people said dismissively, as if he was a guileless cake.”) This gripping page-turner is Crummey’s masterpiece. (Feb.)

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Abe Strapp, the drunkard ne’er-do-well son of a successful shipping merchant, is set to enter into an advantageous marriage to the daughter of a rival merchant, all but assuring his dominance in the small Newfoundland port of Mockbeggar. The ceremony is disrupted, however, when another rival, Widow Caines, presents a young servant girl said to be carrying Abe’s child. This is the opening salvo in Crummey’s (The Innocents, 2019) splendid tale of sibling rivalry and escalating retribution. Abe’s late father had built the most successful mercantile concern on the coast, funded the town’s church, and was appointed justice of the peace. Abe, however, prefers the alehouses to the church, and his ineptitude earned him the moniker Not-Able. Widow Caines, Abe’s sister, is equally cunning, considerably more intelligent, and determined to destroy her loathsome brother. Crummey’s characters leap off the page. The exquisite period language is lyrical yet unrelentingly portentous, and the insults are of Shakespearean caliber. There are cretinous henchmen, villainous pirates, and innocent, preyed-upon knaves. There is a devastating storm and a pandemic. The cumulative misfortune falls somewhere between biblical and Dickensian as Crummey masterfully builds the suspense while tempering the intensity with instances of selfless devotion. Crummey has quietly established himself as one of our best writers.

Library Journal
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In early European settlements on the Newfoundland Coast, life is precarious and harsh. Townsfolk depend on the local gentry for work. Abe Strapp and the Widow Caines have been enemies all their lives. They operate competing businesses. They belong to different churches. Abe is illiterate while Mrs. Caines is well read. Abe is volatile while Mrs. Caines is cold and calculating. Both are laser-focused on their own success at any cost. After the death of Mr. Caines, Abe is appointed Justice of the Peace. He abuses his power, enforcing his edicts with two hired henchmen. He builds a brothel populated with imported girls, promoting drinking and gambling while mistreating those who object. Mrs. Caines, coldly observing it all, and aware of the danger to her own intents and aims, does not take the change to her world lightly, and events begin to spin out of control. VERDICT Using the vocabulary of the time, Crummey (The Innocents) tells an unhappy but compelling story of division and strife caused by personal vendettas and animosity. A good pick for readers of historical fiction in which family relations and tragedy play key roles.—Joanna M. Burkhardt