Summary: Beloved nature writer Robert Finch spent the greater part of a decade traveling around the island of Newfoundland, at "the edge of North America." In these evocative sketches, stories, and essays, he explores the people, geography, and wildlife of a remote and lovely, but often dangerously inhospitable place. Between the icy cliffs and the Atlantic Ocean, the lush valleys and barren drifts, he collects intimate stories of birds and moose and foxes--and of the people who share their space. He evokes a landscape of raw beauty in detailed essays that ebb and flow as we make the journey with him, straining to hear the waves. But while Newfoundland may be a place of unparalleled beauty, its citizens face serious economic hardships, with the fishing industry withered and very little industry to replace it.
Finch often steps aside, allowing the Newfoundlanders' to tell their stories in their own voices, and allows us to hear the cadence and movement of individuals and their tales. A wide array of characters--fishermen, hunters, and hitchhikers, newcomers and oldtimers--bring to life an island tucked between provinces, languages, and cultures, a land of ancient hardship and stirring beauty.