CAPE RANDOM

Fluently written and carefully researched, this debut is an epic account of a displaced and unskilled family's heroic fight for survival in the early 1800s at Cape Random, a barren, isolated landfall on Newfoundland's eastern coast. The opening two-thirds of the novel centers on Lavinia Andrews, who is 17 when the chronicle begins. Seaman Ned Andrews, the lighthearted family breadwinner, and his family are banished from their home in Weymouth, England, when Ned is caught selling salt cod in surreptitious competition with his wealthy, autocratic employer. Seeking a fresh start, the Andrews family books passage to Newfoundland, expecting to debark at the thriving port of St. John's, but they're put aground by an unscrupulous captain at a bleak outpost on the "French Shore." It's inhabited by the Vincent family and enigmatic Thomas Hutchings, the well-educated, lone-wolf caretaker of the hardscrabble fishing and sealing station, where the supply boat has left only minimal provisions for the approaching winter. Near-starvation, illness and petty enmity ensue, but the necessity to prevail against the elements forges bonds of respect and camaraderie between the struggling residents. Chronicling 15 years of desperate toil, privation and premature death, Part One of the novel ends with Lavinia at age 32. The remainder of the narrative is the odyssey of Thomas Hutchings, who came to Newfoundland as a young Catholic priest fleeing a naïve and misguided past. Originally published in 1992, this vividly detailed historical saga, shadowed by mysticism and rooted in a mythical, primal past, is a deeply affecting narrative. (May)

Forecast:Handselling to fans of The Shipping News could improve sales, as could a U.S. release of the Canadian TV movie based on Morgan's debut.