{"product_id":"jennies-boy-a-misfit-childhood-on-an-island-of-eccentrics-9781586423629","title":"Jennie's Boy: A Misfit Childhood on an Island of Eccentrics","description":"\u003cb\u003e** Winner of the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour ** \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe sad, tender, and extremely funny memoir of a boyhood few thought he would survive, including the unforgettable mother and hilarious grandmother who raised him \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA book to be relished by lovers of such works as \u003ci\u003eThe Glass Castle\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eDon't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eAngela's Ashes\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEverything readers love about consummate storyteller and beloved bestselling novelist Wayne Johnston's work is on full display in \u003ci\u003eJennie's Boy\u003c\/i\u003e incredible characters, brilliant language, and a deep sense of place. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWayne Johnston's family -- his mother, father, and three brothers -- were always on the move. The year he turned eight, the most memorable year of an unusual childhood, they found themselves occupying a wreck of a house in the community his mother Jennie was from: Goulds, Newfoundland was not so much a place as a scattering of homes along an unpaved road. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eEveryone knew him as \"Jennie's boy,\" and his tiny, ferocious mother felt judged for Wayne's sickly, skinny condition -- he had to spend much of his time in a bed on wheels that was moved from room to room. While his brothers went off to school, Wayne passed his days with his witty, eccentric maternal grandmother, Lucy, whose son Leonard had died at the age of seven and whose photo stood alongside a statue of the Blessed Virgin.\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eJennie's Boy\u003c\/i\u003e recalls a boyhood full of pain, laughter, tenderness, and the kind of wit for which Newfoundlanders are known. By that wit, and by their love for each other -- so often expressed in the most unloving ways -- he, and they, survived.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWidely acclaimed for his magical weaving of fact and fiction, his masterful plotting and his gift for both description and character, Wayne Johnston's many novels include \u003ci\u003eThe Custodian of Paradise\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Navigator of New York\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Colony of Unrequited Dreams\u003c\/i\u003e, which was a finalist for sixteen Canadian and international awards, including the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction, and which won the New York Public Libraries Prize for Best Novel and was chosen by the \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e as one of the Ten Best Books of the year. \u003ci\u003eBaltimore's Mansion\u003c\/i\u003e, a memoir about his father and grandfather, won the inaugural Charles Taylor Prize for literary nonfiction.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Steerforth Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50497352499474,"sku":"9781586423629","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_4b68e627-37e4-41ff-92c1-4d3a222615ed.jpg?v=1730711730","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/jennies-boy-a-misfit-childhood-on-an-island-of-eccentrics-9781586423629","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}