Media Reviews
'Donna Morrissey has created in KIT'S LAW an extraordinary trinity of women, and charted for our vast entertainment their piquant and heroic adjustments in relation to those who have power in Newfoundland's Haire's Hollow - men such as the starchy Reverend Ropson, his son Sid, the local doctor, and the murdering, raping jailbird Shine. Comparisons to Annie Proulx are inevitable, but KIT's LAW exists in the valley of its own saying, and in the directness of its tone, establishes its own authority' Thomas Keneally 'Donna Morrissey's novel, Kit's Law, lures you in with a soft, poetic beginning, then wrenches you into the harsh realities of life for 14-year old Kit Pitman, who lives in an isolated Newfoundland outport. Morrissey understands the music of the language here and captures everything from the soft sonorous undertone of the sea to the shrill high notes of the self-righteous citizens who make life difficult for a young girl trying to come to grips with a complex identity. The novel carries a potent emotional impact that stays with you long after you walk away from the story. It doesn't read like a writer's first novel. It sounds as if Morrissey has been honing her craft for decades. Kit's Law is a wonderful addition to the great canon of Newfoundland literature. ' Lesley Choyce, author of World Enough and Nova Scotia: Shaped by the Sea 'Kit's Law has those timeless, mythic qualities you find in Hardy. Donna Morrissey takes the old and makes it new in a miraculous way. As do all good novels.' Eric McCormack, author of the Governor General-nominated First Blast of the Trumpet '...a lively narrative with an unquestionable sense of authenticity...' Toronto Star 'Sleeper hit of the season...a work of strong rhythms and pungent flavours, plus an old-fashioned gothic-melodrama plot...Wally Lamb in a sou'wester...Morrissey gives us a strong setting and a strong novel...' Globe and Mail '... debut novel by Morrissey simply stunning. The strength of Morrissey's novel lies in the true voices of her characters, the strong story line, and the vitality of the setting and the people. Kit's law is a stunning debut novel from a very talented writer' The Telegram, St. John's, Newfoundland 'The novel establishes its setting - 1950's outport Newfoundland - ...quickly, credibly, and with poetic language...' 'There are echoes of Thomas Hardy here, the clash between fate and free will, and rampant coincidence' W.P. Kinsella, Quill & Quire 'This novel feels like it comes from a different time...a place where the anonymous, fast-paced 20th century with its innovations and renovations has little influence. Morrissey as represented that timelessness with a novel that reminds us of older stories in which the haracters are easy to identify as heroine, or villain, or victim. Stories in which personal tragedy is not an embellished coincidence on a TV talk show, but a life-shattering, momentous event. Stories in which relationships can be passionate, and secretive and stormy. Her style may not be to everyone's taste, but it's provocative, and it makes for a helluva good read' The Daily News, Halifax '...enough happens in the first hundred pages of Kit's Law to sustain novels three times as long. So much for the sleepy outport. And urbanite readers may find their cherished ideas about village life challenged. ...a fast-paced charmer of a yarn' The Coast, Halifax 'Morrissey [is] a born storyteller...soon readers will be thanking her for writing one of the strongest debuts to come out of the Atlantic region in some time. Set in Newfoundland in 1950's, Kit's Law is a unique coming of age story; emotionally tense and unravelled at the frantic pace of a crime thriller' Daily News, Halifax, Nova Scotia 'This accomplished first novel deserves wider attention. The plot rollicks along at a captivating pace and twists so quickly I forgot to try and predict the outcome ... Vividly imagined' Kate Figes, Independent on Sunday 'Suffused with a wonder for the natural world like Thomas Hardy's, and the tart forthrightness of Marilynne Robinson, this atmospheric coming-of-age story marks the promising debut of Canadian scriptwriter Morrissey. It's Newfoundland in the 1950s, but it feels like 1850 in Haire's Hollow, a tiny, remote outpost community. There, 12-year-old Kit Pitman lives in a gully shack with feisty grandmother Lizzy and mentally retarded mother Josie, an often drunk near-vagrant scorned by townsfolk as the gully tramp. Lizzy tigerishly protects her girls, but when she suddenly dies, local women join forces with the vitriolic Reverend Ropson in a campaign to ship Kit and Josie away. Defended by kindly Doctor Hodgins, Kit and Josie are allowed to remain in the gully shack with frequent visits from babysitters and spies, most notably the minister's teenage son, Sidney. But they are never safe, as a psychopathic murderer named Shine roams Haire's Hollow, and Josie persists in meeting him. Some of Morrissey's secondary characters (like the minister and the doctor) are hackneyed and predictable, but Kit is a fresh, delicately nuanced first-person narrator, who almost imperceptibly blossoms from a wary, joyless preadolescent into a full-blooded woman, falling disastrously in love with Sidney. Like her beloved grandmother, Kit is valiant and impulsive, but most fetching is her voice whether describing Josie's smell of rotting dogberries or the big Newfoundland skies which Morrissey captures with thrilling verve and precision.' Publisher's Weekly 'Set in a remote Newfoundland village in the 1950s, this beautiful first novel balances raunchy folk humor, riveting suspense, and family tragedy with a young girl's profound first love. Fourteen-year-old Kit Pitman lives in a weather-beaten coastal cottage with her mentally disabled mother, Josie, and her fiercely protective grandmother, Nan--a shadow big enough to blot out all of Haire's Hollow. Both childlike and sexually promiscuous, Josie scandalizes the villagers, but Nan holds the family together until her abrupt death. When a group of locals tries to place Kit into foster care, she fights to keep her beloved gully-side home; with few friends, she cherishes quiet and isolation. Household help comes from her ailing aunt and from the reverend's son, Sid, with whom Kit falls deeply in love as the plot accelerates to a thriller's pace. Kit and Sid's ultimately doomed affair is unraveled first by a violent act of self-defense and then by impossible family secrets. With a poet's attention to sound, Morrissey combines wonderful, rich characters and compelling family intrigue with a powerful, almost meditative sense of place. Startling, vivid, and expertly crafted, this novel introduces an exciting writer whose career needs to be followed closely.' Booklist 'Donna Morrissey has created in KIT'S LAW an extraordinary trinity of women ... Comparisons to Annie Proulx are inevitable, but KIT's LAW exists in the valley of its own saying, and in the directness of its tone, establishes its own authority' -- Thomas Keneally 'A stunning debut novel from a very talented writer' -- The Telegram, St. John's, Newfoundland 'KIT'S LAW offers the reader all the old-fashioned virtues: a vivid sense of place, larger than life characters, an intricate and suspenseful plot and a feisty heroine whom we can't help rooting for on every page. Donna Morrissey has written a terrific novel' -- Margot Livesey 'An incredible debut novel that reaches the pit of the stomach with an authentic tone and a cast of character that fall into the category of unforgettable' -- Sunday Business Post 'Powerful descriptions...vividly imagined' -- The Independent on Sunday 'Set in a remote Newfoundland village in the 1950s, this beautiful first novel balances raunchy folk humor, riveting suspense, and family tragedy with a young girl's profound first love...With a poet's attention to sound, Morrissey combines wonderful, rich characters and compelling family intrigue with a powerful, almost meditative sense of place. Startling, vivid, and expertly crafted, this novel introduces an exciting writer whose career needs to be followed closely.' -- Booklist 'Suffused with a wonder for the natural world like Thomas Hardy's, and the tart forthrightness of Marilynne Robinson, this atmospheric coming-of-age story marks the promising debut of Canadian scriptwriter Morrissey...Kit is a fresh, delicately nuanced first-person narrator, who almost imperceptibly blossoms from a wary, joyless preadolescent into a full-blooded woman, falling disastrously in love with Sidney. Like her beloved grandmother, Kit is valiant and impulsive, but most fetching is her voice whether describing Josie's smell of rotting dogberries or the big Newfoundland skies which Morrissey captures with thrilling verve and precision.' -- Publisher's Weekly 'Kit is a heroine whom we immediately warm to ... KIT'S LAW is a charmer.' -- Kirkus Reviews 'Debut novelist Morrissey has narrative skills to die for and uses language that's direct, sure and salty' -- RTE Guide
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