When this historical fiction novel, set in early nineteenth century Newfoundland popped into my feed, I was all in. Published in 2023, it took a while, but I was determined to keep it on my TBR list. So glad I did. Crummey, a native Newfoundlander, doesn’t spare the grim horror of that time and place—plagues, lawlessness, childbirth deaths, starvation, bitter cold, even pirates. It makes you appreciate the tenacity of humans, to live, and persist, in the most unforgiving places. It also makes you appreciate how psychopathically cruel humans can be toward their fellows.

The story centers around adult siblings, Abe Strapp and his sister, known as the Widow Caines. Strapp has inherited the family business from their father, and has Abraham Clinch, known as the Beadle, manage his assets. This is in the town of Mockbeggar, a northern coastal village where all inhabitants work for either Strapp’s concern or his sister’s Caines Mercantile. Both employ men to fish for cod, which is dried and sold to sailors from seafaring European countries. Women try to scratch out what they can from their gardens during the short growing season, raising a few chickens, and a pig and a cow, putting as much aside for winter as possible. The Widow is not innocent, in her own right—smart, savvy and manipulative, she marries the elder Caines and inherits his businesses upon his death, leaving her roughly equal in economic power to Strapp. While Strapp takes little interest in the fishing business, he turns his energies toward vice—he brings in a Madam and her young prostitutes to set up shop in the Strapp family home, turning it into a destination for liquor, gambling, and paid sex. This proves lucrative, and before long he has many sailors and fishermen in debt to him at ruinous interest rates.

Crummey does not draw the Widow as a blameless innocent, however—she is more than willing to exercise her power and influence in wily, calculating ways. When Strapp wangles an appointment as Justice of the Peace, he and his henchmen use the power to assure Strapp’s vendettas are settled, his crimes are ignored, and punishment is meted out to any who cross him. The people of the town know they live between these two powerful forces, and choose their sides accordingly, knowing loyalty will eventually cost them dearly. If nature and arbitrary circumstance don’t kill them, entanglements with Strapp or the Widow will.

The Beadle is an interesting character. His Christian name is Abraham, and Strapp is his Godson and namesake. The Beadle serves as a stand-in for an Anglican minister, and it is apparent that he is a firm believer, in spite of his hypocritical behavior at times. While he is repulsed by Strapp’s behavior, he gets something out of being near to power. Clinch despises the Widow, believing that women have no place having power, no matter her intellect. The complexities of these three characters, how they circle around one another in a quest for power and control, using townspeople as their pawns in this chess match, brings constant tension to the story, which ratchets up tighter bit by bit.

This novel is a real page turner, driving us through suspenseful, terrible events until we simply must know who will suffer: Strapp, the Widow, the Beadle, or the innocent people caught in their game. Highly recommended.