The description of the landscape and the way of life for the family are marvellous. I loved this book – the writing is sublime and I felt transported to the remote fishing village. Aiden is a fisherman from Little Running and we discover what happens when they meet.Īs the emotional distance between Aiden and Martha widens, Cora runs away from the island, desperate for a bigger life than her home can offer. One night she hears what she thinks is a mermaid singing out at sea and spends her evenings sitting on the beach listening to the songs. Martha loses her parents at a young age and lives with her sisters. The book also looks to the past (early 1970s) and looks at Aiden and Martha as teenagers. Cora spends her days decorating the abandoned houses as different countries – the bakers house becomes Italy, another becomes Russia, Mexico and Britain until almost all the house have a national identity. Finn develops an obsession with solving the mystery of the missing fish, with the help his accordion teacher Mrs Callaghan. There is no school on the island and no lessons for the children.
Finn’s parents, Aiden and Martha spend alternate months working at an energy site hundreds of miles away to support their children. When the book starts, most families have left the island as fishing is the main industry and all the fish have mysteriously disappeared. Our Homesick Songs was on the longlist for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize.Set in 1992/1993 and told from the point of view of 10-year-old Finn Conner, 14-year-old sister, Cora and their parents, Aiden and Martha, this book describes the fictional fishing village of Big Running in Newfoundland, Canada. That is until his sister disappears, and Finn must find a way of calling home the family and the life he has lost. Callaghan, who teaches him the strange and ancient melodies of their native Ireland.
And then Finn's parents announce that they too must separate if their family is to survive.īut Finn still has his sister, Cora, with whom he counts the dwindling boats on the coast at night, and Mrs. There's no school, no friends and whole rows of houses stand abandoned. As residents are forced to leave the island in search of work, 10-year-old Finn Connor suddenly finds himself living in a ghost town. When all the fish vanish from the waters and the cod industry abruptly collapses, it's not long before the people begin to disappear from the town of Big Running as well.
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