Listen free for 30 days
-
First Snow, Last Light
- Narrated by: David Ferry, Ryan Wells, Gordon Pinsent, Mary Lewis
- Length: 14 hrs and 16 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wish list failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for $31.58
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Buy it with
-
Jennie's Boy
- A Newfoundland Childhood
- Written by: Wayne Johnston
- Narrated by: Wayne Johnston
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For six months between 1966 and 1967, Wayne Johnston and his family lived in a wreck of a house across from his grandparents in Goulds, Newfoundland. At seven, Wayne was sickly and skinny, unable to keep food down, plagued with insomnia and a relentless cough that no doctor could diagnose, though they had already removed his tonsils, adenoids and appendix. To the neighbours, he was known as “Jennie’s boy,” a backhanded salute to his tiny, ferocious mother, who felt judged for Wayne’s condition at the same time as worried he might never grow up.
-
-
It made me laugh and cry.
- By Patricia on 2022-10-12
Written by: Wayne Johnston
-
The Adversary
- Written by: Michael Crummey
- Narrated by: Mary Lewis
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an isolated outport on Newfoundland's northern coastline, Abe Strapp is about to marry the daughter of a rival merchant to cement his hold on the shore when the Widow Caines arrives to throw the wedding and Abe's plans into chaos. That ruthless act of sabotage is the opening salvo in a battle between the man and woman who own Mockbeggar's largest mercantile firms, each fighting for the scarce resources of the north Atlantic fishery, each seeking a measure of revenge on the person they despise most in the world.
-
-
Wonderful story poor reader.
- By Anonymous User on 2023-10-30
Written by: Michael Crummey
-
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
- Written by: Wayne Johnston
- Narrated by: Mary Lewis, Colin Furlong
- Length: 18 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A mystery and a love story spanning five decades, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is an epic portrait of passion and ambition, set against the beautiful, brutal landscape of Newfoundland. In this acclaimed novel, Johnston has created two of the most memorable and irreversibly intertwined characters in modern fiction: Joey Smallwood, who claws his way up from poverty to become Newfoundland's first premier; and Sheilagh Fielding, who renounces her father's wealth to become a popular columnist and writer, a gifted satirist who casts a haunting shadow on Smallwood's life and career.
Written by: Wayne Johnston
-
The Mystery of Right and Wrong
- Written by: Wayne Johnston
- Narrated by: Patrick Garrow, Brad Hodder, Kelly Van Der Burg, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Mystery of Right and Wrong is a masterwork from one of the country’s most critically acclaimed and beloved writers that is both compulsively listenable and heartstopping in the vital truth it unfolds. In a novel that grapples with sexual abuse, male violence and madness, Wayne Johnston reveals haunting family secrets he’s kept for more than 30 years.
-
-
Heartwrenching, courageous & resplendent
- By mavo on 2022-04-23
Written by: Wayne Johnston
-
Sweetland
- Written by: Michael Crummey
- Narrated by: David Ferry
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 12 generations, when the fish were plentiful and when they all but disappeared, the inhabitants of this remote island in Newfoundland have lived and died together. Now, in the second decade of the 21st century, they are facing resettlement, and each has been offered a generous compensation package to leave. But the money is offered with a proviso: everyone has to go; the government won't be responsible for one crazy coot who chooses to stay alone on an island.
-
-
heart sang and broke at the same time
- By Jill on 2019-11-14
Written by: Michael Crummey
-
The Wreckage
- Written by: Michael Crummey
- Narrated by: Mary Lewis
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a remote Newfoundland outpost at the onset of the Second World War, the young Catholic Wish Furey meets the passionate, independent 16-year-old Protestant Sadie Parsons. They begin an intense affair that is cut short as prejudice and mistrust drive Wish away, into the British Army and the war. At home in Newfoundland, Sadie turns her back on her family and moves to St. John's to wait for Wish - until she receives word that he is dead. Fifty years later, Sadie returns to Newfoundland to scatter her American husband's ashes and to face her past.
-
-
Great performance
- By Georgieanna Dube on 2020-12-31
Written by: Michael Crummey
-
Jennie's Boy
- A Newfoundland Childhood
- Written by: Wayne Johnston
- Narrated by: Wayne Johnston
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For six months between 1966 and 1967, Wayne Johnston and his family lived in a wreck of a house across from his grandparents in Goulds, Newfoundland. At seven, Wayne was sickly and skinny, unable to keep food down, plagued with insomnia and a relentless cough that no doctor could diagnose, though they had already removed his tonsils, adenoids and appendix. To the neighbours, he was known as “Jennie’s boy,” a backhanded salute to his tiny, ferocious mother, who felt judged for Wayne’s condition at the same time as worried he might never grow up.
-
-
It made me laugh and cry.
- By Patricia on 2022-10-12
Written by: Wayne Johnston
-
The Adversary
- Written by: Michael Crummey
- Narrated by: Mary Lewis
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In an isolated outport on Newfoundland's northern coastline, Abe Strapp is about to marry the daughter of a rival merchant to cement his hold on the shore when the Widow Caines arrives to throw the wedding and Abe's plans into chaos. That ruthless act of sabotage is the opening salvo in a battle between the man and woman who own Mockbeggar's largest mercantile firms, each fighting for the scarce resources of the north Atlantic fishery, each seeking a measure of revenge on the person they despise most in the world.
-
-
Wonderful story poor reader.
- By Anonymous User on 2023-10-30
Written by: Michael Crummey
-
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
- Written by: Wayne Johnston
- Narrated by: Mary Lewis, Colin Furlong
- Length: 18 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A mystery and a love story spanning five decades, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is an epic portrait of passion and ambition, set against the beautiful, brutal landscape of Newfoundland. In this acclaimed novel, Johnston has created two of the most memorable and irreversibly intertwined characters in modern fiction: Joey Smallwood, who claws his way up from poverty to become Newfoundland's first premier; and Sheilagh Fielding, who renounces her father's wealth to become a popular columnist and writer, a gifted satirist who casts a haunting shadow on Smallwood's life and career.
Written by: Wayne Johnston
-
The Mystery of Right and Wrong
- Written by: Wayne Johnston
- Narrated by: Patrick Garrow, Brad Hodder, Kelly Van Der Burg, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Mystery of Right and Wrong is a masterwork from one of the country’s most critically acclaimed and beloved writers that is both compulsively listenable and heartstopping in the vital truth it unfolds. In a novel that grapples with sexual abuse, male violence and madness, Wayne Johnston reveals haunting family secrets he’s kept for more than 30 years.
-
-
Heartwrenching, courageous & resplendent
- By mavo on 2022-04-23
Written by: Wayne Johnston
-
Sweetland
- Written by: Michael Crummey
- Narrated by: David Ferry
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 12 generations, when the fish were plentiful and when they all but disappeared, the inhabitants of this remote island in Newfoundland have lived and died together. Now, in the second decade of the 21st century, they are facing resettlement, and each has been offered a generous compensation package to leave. But the money is offered with a proviso: everyone has to go; the government won't be responsible for one crazy coot who chooses to stay alone on an island.
-
-
heart sang and broke at the same time
- By Jill on 2019-11-14
Written by: Michael Crummey
-
The Wreckage
- Written by: Michael Crummey
- Narrated by: Mary Lewis
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a remote Newfoundland outpost at the onset of the Second World War, the young Catholic Wish Furey meets the passionate, independent 16-year-old Protestant Sadie Parsons. They begin an intense affair that is cut short as prejudice and mistrust drive Wish away, into the British Army and the war. At home in Newfoundland, Sadie turns her back on her family and moves to St. John's to wait for Wish - until she receives word that he is dead. Fifty years later, Sadie returns to Newfoundland to scatter her American husband's ashes and to face her past.
-
-
Great performance
- By Georgieanna Dube on 2020-12-31
Written by: Michael Crummey
-
Galore
- Written by: Michael Crummey
- Narrated by: Mary Lewis
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sprawling and intimate, stark and fantastical, Galore is a novel about the power of stories to shape and sustain us. This is Michael Crummey’s most ambitious and accomplished work to date. An intricate family saga and love story spanning two centuries, Galore is a portrait of the improbable medieval world that was rural Newfoundland, a place almost too harrowing and extravagant to be real.
-
-
Strange and rambling but oddly enjoyable
- By 03Afterthought on 2022-07-26
Written by: Michael Crummey
-
Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club
- Written by: Megan Gail Coles
- Narrated by: Megan Gail Coles
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
February in Newfoundland is the longest month of the year. Another blizzard is threatening to tear a strip off downtown St. John’s, while inside The Hazel restaurant, a storm system of sex, betrayal, addiction and hurt is breaking overhead.
-
-
Captures the essence of NL social dynamics
- By Mindy Finlay on 2021-07-19
Written by: Megan Gail Coles
-
Pluck
- A Memoir of a Newfoundland Childhood and the Raucous, Terrible, Amazing Journey to Becoming a Novelist
- Written by: Donna Morrissey
- Narrated by: Donna Morrissey
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Donna Morrissey left the only home she had ever known, an isolated Newfoundland settlement, at age 16, she was ready for adventure. She had grown up without television or telephones but had absorbed the tragic stories and comic yarns of her close-knit family and community. The death of her infant brother marked the family, and years later, Morrissey suffers devastating guilt about the accidental death of her teenage brother, whom she'd enticed to join her in the oilfields.
-
-
Wonderful Grand!
- By G. Bonnell on 2022-01-16
Written by: Donna Morrissey
-
Where I Belong
- Written by: Alan Doyle
- Narrated by: Alan Doyle
- Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the lead singer of the band Great Big Sea comes a lyrical and captivating musical memoir about growing up in the tiny fishing village of Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, and then taking to the world stage.
-
-
wonderful storyteller
- By Jo Hoeven on 2019-12-11
Written by: Alan Doyle
-
All Together Now
- A Newfoundlander's Light Tales for Heavy Times
- Written by: Alan Doyle
- Narrated by: Alan Doyle
- Length: 4 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Is there a more sociable province than Newfoundland and Labrador? Or anywhere in Canada with a greater reputation for coming to the rescue of those in need? At this time of Covid, singer, songwriter and best-selling author Alan Doyle is feeling everyone's pain. Off the road and spending more days at home than he has since he was a child hawking cod tongues on the wharfs of Petty Harbour, he misses the crowds and companionship of performing. We're all experiencing our own version of that deprivation, and Alan, one of Newfoundland's finest storytellers, wants to offer a little balm.
-
-
Perfect lockdown listening
- By Danielle Vézina on 2020-12-30
Written by: Alan Doyle
-
River Thieves
- Written by: Michael Crummey
- Narrated by: David Ferry
- Length: 11 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the turn of the 19th century, naval officer David Buchan arrives in the Bay of Exploits with orders to establish contact with the Beothuk or "Red Indians", the aboriginal inhabitants of Newfoundland facing extinction. When Buchan approaches the area's most influential white settlers, the Peytons, for advice and assistance, he enters a shadowy world of allegiances and old grudges that he can only dimly apprehend.
-
-
Beautifully told and heartbreaking in its truths.
- By P on 2023-08-02
Written by: Michael Crummey
Publisher's Summary
- 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.
What 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)
More from the same
What listeners say about First Snow, Last Light
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Nancy W. Caldwell
- 2018-09-13
Could have been shorter
I like Wayne Johnston's novels on the whole but this one was too long. It still has the lovely writing and readability but if I had been his editor I would have cut about 1/4 of the book out. I felt impatient in the second half waiting for something to happen. At the end it happened very suddenly and quickly. Not my favourite Wayne Johnston book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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."
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!