The Shipping News

Hapless, lovable Quoyle takes his two daughters and aunt back to the ancestral home in Newfoundland, following the death of his nasty parents and even nastier wife. He goes to work for the local paper, the aptly named Gammy Bird, writing up shipping news and car crashes ("We run a front-page photo of a car wreck every week, whether we have a wreck or not" is managing editor Tert Card's golden rule.) Despite his job and a string of equally hilarious and demoralizing incidents, however, Quoyle finds the inner resources to master (or at least survive) his fate. (front flap)