First Snow, Last Light
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First Snow, Last Light
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Narrated by:
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David Ferry
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Ryan Wells
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Gordon Pinsent
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Mary Lewis
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Written by:
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Wayne Johnston
About this listen
- 2018 winner of the BMO Winterset Award
- 2019 nominee of the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
From the author of the critically acclaimed, prize-winning, and internationally best-selling The Colony of Unrequited Dreams comes an epic family mystery with a powerful, surprise ending, which features the return of the ever-fascinating Sheilagh Fielding, one of the most memorable characters in fiction.
Ned Vatcher, only 14, ambles home from school in the chill hush that precedes the first storm of the winter of 1936 to find the house locked, the family car missing, and his parents gone without a trace. From that point on, his life is driven by the need to find out what happened to the Vanished Vatchers. His father, Edgar, born to a poor family of fishermen, had risen to become the right-hand man to the colony's prime minister, then suffered an unexpected fall from grace. Were he and his wife murdered? Was it suicide? Had they run away? If so, why had they left their only child behind?
Ned soon finds himself enmeshed in another family, that of his missing father and the poverty from which the man somehow escaped. His grandparents, Nan and Reg, his uncle Cyril, and others are themselves haunted by the inexplicable disappearance of a third Vatcher, a young man who was lost at sea on a calm and sunny day years earlier. Two other people loom large as Ned becomes Newfoundland's first media mogul, building an empire to insulate him from loss: a Jesuit priest named Father Duggan and Sheilagh Fielding, a boozy giantess who, while wandering the city streets at night, composes satiric columns that scandalize the rich and powerful. In Ned, Fielding sees a surrogate for her two lost children, the secret that dogs her life, while Ned believes the enigmatic Fielding to be his soul mate.
The novel builds to a spectacular resolution of the mystery of all the Vanished Vatchers. Only Wayne Johnston could create such larger-than-life, mythic characters embroiled in events that leave us contemplating not only their tragedies and triumphs but the forces that compel us all to act in ways that surprise and sometimes terrify us.
©2017 Wayne Johnston (P)2018 Penguin Random House CanadaWhat the critics say
"Few writers today rival Newfoundland’s Wayne Johnston’s sheer power to astonish.... [First Snow, Last Light] recalls, perhaps, a nostalgia that many still harbour of an independent Newfoundland, but at the heart of it is a love-hate relationship with The Rock. This is a wondrous book." (Toronto Star)
"[A] clear examination of the heart and its deepest wants.... [First Snow, Last Light] is a leisurely account of the warping of personality by loss, and a cracking mystery at the same time.... The novel’s strength is in its wrenching honesty; love here is persistent and uncertain, never knowing quite where to land, but always trying.... It’s also a compelling whodunit, with tension spun out across much of its length." (Alix Hawley, author of All True Not a Lie in It, The Globe and Mail)
"[Johnston’s trilogy of Newfoundland novels] are rich in geographical and historical detail, to the point where Newfoundland itself is as important a character as the protagonists." (Atlantic Books)
What listeners say about First Snow, Last Light
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2018-09-17
Very mysterious beginning
I love the accents in the narration, made me think I was actually living in Newfoundland. #Audible1
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- shawn
- 2018-06-06
This is a awsome audiobook.
This is a book that everyone should have a listen to. Very exciting. and keeps you entertained.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Janrow
- 2018-09-06
I always love spending time with Shaleigh
I've long been a fan of Johnston's work, going back to my university days when I first read "The Divine Ryans." First Snow, Last Light was no different. I found myself binging on this book as I was anxious to learn how all the pieces of Ned Vatchers' life would come together by the end of the book. I enjoyed that this book was told from different perspectives- Ned Vatcher, Shaleigh Fielding, Reg Vatcher, and "The Last Newfoundlander." Johnston again creates a fictional backdrop that runs parallel to history, which I will line up for every time! Over the years, I have grown incredibly fond of Shaleigh Fielding, and seeing her character again was not unlike a visit with an old friend. Definitely recommended!
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sean D Steel
- 2020-07-19
amazing book
I enjoyed the narration immensely. great to hear nfld accents again after living away for 20+ years. very satisfying to meet sheilagh again after 'the colony of unrequited dreams" and "the custodian of paradise."
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nancy G.
- 2020-03-29
Excellent all round.
This book has been in my Audible library for awhile and I have just finished listening to it again. I will only return to a book that is really good , and this happens to be excellent.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- June Kirkland-Smith
- 2019-01-12
so many twists
Very good book with lots of mystery, turns and intriguing plot. Very well narrated. Interesting mix of characters.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gardener Phyl
- 2024-11-24
Worthy read
Remarkable story telling, and the narration is spot on. Deeply Canadian in context, yet the underlying themes are universal. Highly recommend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Leslie redman
- 2018-10-23
suspensful and gripping
a good story, full of unexpected turns. Loved the characters and the different voices as each told their version of the story. Loved the Newfoundland setting.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Marsha Mah Poy
- 2019-06-10
Loved this book
I would highly recommend this book. I loved the various voices and thought the audible was well done.
I look for another Wayne Johnston book. Good Newfoundland story.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- KP
- 2022-04-28
Boring and slow
story was slow... I feel as if I missed something that would make it make sense or have a point.
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