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The Guardian
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Adversary by Michael Crummey review – dark humour and depravity at the edge of the Earth
Several years have passed since Michael Crummey's last novel The Innocents was published in the UK in 2020. A pandemic has since occurred and, appropriately perhaps, The Adversary begins on a dark note of contagion. 'There was a killing sickness on the shore that winter and the only services at the church were funerals,' runs the opening line, setting the tone for a book that plumbs the depths of depravity but – thanks to its energy, and its ripe and adventurous language – never loses a black sense of humour. Having now won the 30th annual Dublin Literary award, worth €100,000, The Adversary is proof that Crummey is beginning to garner the accolades he deserves beyond his native Canada. Crummey hails from Newfoundland; all six of his novels are set there. He understands the power of lashing sea, scouring wind, an eked-out existence far from what many consider to be civilisation. In The Innocents he told a kind of Adam-and-Eve story of two children left alone to raise themselves in a shack in the early years of the 19th century. Supplies are occasionally brought in a ship called the Hope; its black-clad captain is known as the Beadle. There is no need to read The Innocents to enjoy The Adversary, but it's a pleasure to spot the connection. The new novel is set in a town called Mockbeggar, and the Beadle is one of its itinerant grandees. This is the Canadian frontier, the harried edge of wilderness, though in comparison with the world of The Innocents the municipality's physical comforts seem positively Parisian. Despite the prevalence of funerals, the reader encounters a wedding in the novel's opening pages. It is between a trembling girl, Anna Morels, brought over from far-off Jersey, and Abe Strapp, one of the grandees of Mockbeggar, the two syllables of his name landing like blows. 'He was a fright for a child to look upon as a prospective husband, bacon-faced, with a small full mouth that gave him the air of a greedy infant.' He turns out to be worse than a greedy infant – Strapp is a brutal tyrant whose violent whims are the scourge of Mockbeggar. The marriage will not, in fact, take place: as in a gothic tale, an impediment is presented when another girl, Imogen Purchase, is revealed to have been impregnated by Strapp – or at least such testimony is given – and she becomes his forlorn bride. Neither girl's fate is enviable. If you ever entertained romantic ideas of what it might be like to live in a wild and isolated place in centuries past, Crummey's work will disabuse you of such idle fancy. The book's true mechanism, however, is the rivalry between Strapp and a woman we first meet as the Widow Caines. I am not the first critic to note that, like The Innocents, The Adversary plays on another story in Genesis, that of Cain and Abel; later in the book we find a kind of trinity, too, in the three young people who are the leavening element of goodness and go by the resonant names of Solemn, Bride and Lazarus. The novel's blurb compares it to Deadwood, David Milch's brilliant HBO series from the early 00s. It is an apt analogy, and not only because both present a portrait of a society forged under duress. Plot doesn't, strictly speaking, drive the tale. Rather, Crummey and Milch alike have built nuanced portraits of the allegiances that must be forged in adversity, and the enmities that arrive not only from longstanding hatreds but from scarce resources too. And, like Milch, Crummey luxuriates in vivid swearing and slang. The Widow Caines dresses in her late husband's clothes to run her business – she dismisses a skirt as a 'fucksail'. The madam of the whorehouse, known as the Abbess, refers to the use to which the servant's room in her domicile has been put: ''The blanket hornpipe,' she said. 'The goat's jig. Clicket. Making feet for children's stockings.'' In his acknowledgments the author bows to the 1811 edition of Francis Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, now freely available online for all to peruse. You won't be sorry if you do. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Crummey is a wise and unsparing writer whose understanding of human foibles retains a scrap of empathy even for his blackest creations. The bloody denouement of The Adversary is well earned. The title, if we think along biblical lines, refers to the devil, but Crummey shows that the Adversary is in all of us, just waiting – alas – to be released. The Adversary by Michael Crummey is published by Serpent's Tail (£9.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Adversary by Michael Crummey review – dark humour and depravity at the edge of the Earth
Several years have passed since Michael Crummey's last novel The Innocents was published in the UK in 2020. A pandemic has since occurred and, appropriately perhaps, The Adversary begins on a dark note of contagion. 'There was a killing sickness on the shore that winter and the only services at the church were funerals,' runs the opening line, setting the tone for a book that plumbs the depths of depravity but – thanks to its energy, and its ripe and adventurous language – never loses a black sense of humour. Having now won the 30th annual Dublin Literary award, worth €100,000, The Adversary is proof that Crummey is beginning to garner the accolades he deserves beyond his native Canada. Crummey hails from Newfoundland; all six of his novels are set there. He understands the power of lashing sea, scouring wind, an eked-out existence far from what many consider to be civilisation. In The Innocents he told a kind of Adam-and-Eve story of two children left alone to raise themselves in a shack in the early years of the 19th century. Supplies are occasionally brought in a ship called the Hope; its black-clad captain is known as the Beadle. There is no need to read The Innocents to enjoy The Adversary, but it's a pleasure to spot the connection. The new novel is set in a town called Mockbeggar, and the Beadle is one of its itinerant grandees. This is the Canadian frontier, the harried edge of wilderness, though in comparison with the world of The Innocents the municipality's physical comforts seem positively Parisian. Despite the prevalence of funerals, the reader encounters a wedding in the novel's opening pages. It is between a trembling girl, Anna Morels, brought over from far-off Jersey, and Abe Strapp, one of the grandees of Mockbeggar, the two syllables of his name landing like blows. 'He was a fright for a child to look upon as a prospective husband, bacon-faced, with a small full mouth that gave him the air of a greedy infant.' He turns out to be worse than a greedy infant – Strapp is a brutal tyrant whose violent whims are the scourge of Mockbeggar. The marriage will not, in fact, take place: as in a gothic tale, an impediment is presented when another girl, Imogen Purchase, is revealed to have been impregnated by Strapp – or at least such testimony is given – and she becomes his forlorn bride. Neither girl's fate is enviable. If you ever entertained romantic ideas of what it might be like to live in a wild and isolated place in centuries past, Crummey's work will disabuse you of such idle fancy. The book's true mechanism, however, is the rivalry between Strapp and a woman we first meet as the Widow Caines. I am not the first critic to note that, like The Innocents, The Adversary plays on another story in Genesis, that of Cain and Abel; later in the book we find a kind of trinity, too, in the three young people who are the leavening element of goodness and go by the resonant names of Solemn, Bride and Lazarus. The novel's blurb compares it to Deadwood, David Milch's brilliant HBO series from the early 00s. It is an apt analogy, and not only because both present a portrait of a society forged under duress. Plot doesn't, strictly speaking, drive the tale. Rather, Crummey and Milch alike have built nuanced portraits of the allegiances that must be forged in adversity, and the enmities that arrive not only from longstanding hatreds but from scarce resources too. And, like Milch, Crummey luxuriates in vivid swearing and slang. The Widow Caines dresses in her late husband's clothes to run her business – she dismisses a skirt as a 'fucksail'. The madam of the whorehouse, known as the Abbess, refers to the use to which the servant's room in her domicile has been put: ''The blanket hornpipe,' she said. 'The goat's jig. Clicket. Making feet for children's stockings.'' In his acknowledgments the author bows to the 1811 edition of Francis Grose's Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, now freely available online for all to peruse. You won't be sorry if you do. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Crummey is a wise and unsparing writer whose understanding of human foibles retains a scrap of empathy even for his blackest creations. The bloody denouement of The Adversary is well earned. The title, if we think along biblical lines, refers to the devil, but Crummey shows that the Adversary is in all of us, just waiting – alas – to be released. The Adversary by Michael Crummey is published by Serpent's Tail (£9.99). To support the Guardian, order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.
Irish Independent
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Madeleine Keane on books: Stars descend for festival season and Kerry Group Irish Novel of the Year announced
We're in full festival swing. After 10 (mostly) sun-drenched days, a superb International Literature Festival Dublin concluded last weekend. A personal highlight was interviewing Michael Crummey. The charming Canadian won the Dublin Literary Award (worth €100,000) for his dark, compelling masterpiece The Adversary. Kudos too to Dublin City Libraries who sponsor this life-changing prize. Register for free to read this story Register and create a profile to get access to our free stories. You'll also unlock more free stories each week.
Irish Times
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Dublin Literary Award winner Michael Crummey on losing his belief in redemption: ‘It feels like a pretty dark time'
'I'm dealing with a pretty bad case of impostor syndrome at the moment. I mean, I'm thrilled out of my mind, of course, but I just can't quite believe it yet.' Author Michael Crummey has just found out he's this year's winner of the Dublin Literary Award . Sponsored by Dublin City Council , the prize is unique in that nominations are submitted by librarians and readers from a network of libraries around the world. It also offers a uniquely large prize pot: the winner receives €100,000. Having been longlisted four times (in 2003, for River Thieves, in 2007, for The Wreckage, in 2016, for Sweetland, and in 2021, for The Innocents), and shortlisted once before (in 2011, for Galore), Crummey says he 'made a point of not spending that money in my head when I was shortlisted'. Also, he was up against fierce competition this year – the shortlist included the Booker Prize -winning Prophet Song, by Irish author Paul Lynch , and the Booker-shortlisted and National Book Award-winning James, by Percival Everett . Now that he can start counting his chickens, Crummey says he'd like to 'give a little chunk of money to both of our daughters, which I've never had the ability to do before. And my wife and I have some things around our house that we would like to get done.' READ MORE The 59-year-old speaks via video call from said house in his native Newfoundland, where the winning novel, The Adversary , is set. In fact, all of Crummey's six novels so far are set on the east-Canadian island. 'When I started out, I really felt the desire to try to get this place on paper,' he says. 'Newfoundland was largely an oral culture right up until my parents' generation ... There were a handful of Newfoundland writers in the generation before us, but they were outliers – they were so rare that there was no such thing as a literature of Newfoundland.' But another reason he's compelled to write about the place is that it's simply 'the most interesting place I've ever been'. 'Because it's an island, and has been isolated for so long, it's a place and people unto itself. The people here had to rely on themselves in so many ways: for survival, first of all, and also just to make a life for themselves, to entertain themselves, to build a world.' We speak about the Irish influence on the island, which he says is 'palpable in just about every community'. [ Newfoundland communities are 'most Irish' outside Ireland, genetic study finds Opens in new window ] 'There's what they call the Irish loop on the Avalon [Peninsula], and those communities are almost 100 per cent Irish. The mayor of Waterford was over here a number of years ago, and he said when he was on the southern shore of Avalon, he felt like he was in Waterford – just hearing people speak, and their names, everything. There's a non-broken line of descent from those original Irish settlers.' Michael Crummey: 'I don't know if I would have written a book like The Adversary 20 years ago. It feels to me like the world is embracing ideas and people who feel like violence and cruelty and disdain for people who have less is to be celebrated.' Photograph: Chris Bellew/Fennell Photography The early 19th century, a period during which many of these settlers were arriving to work as labourers, is the setting for The Adversary. A Cain and Abel-inspired fable, the book tells of a feuding brother and sister in the harbour town of Mockbeggar, a place whose harsh climate and corrupt power systems make life a fight for survival. The sister, Widow Caine, wears men's clothing, and will resort to any means to secure the kind of power and agency enjoyed by her brutish brother Abe, who is also fixated upon his own sense of importance and superiority. Though it can be read as a stand-alone, Crummey says he wrote The Adversary as a companion piece to his previous novel, The Innocents, which told of a brother and sister orphaned and left alone in a small cove not far from Mockbeggar. 'I've always thought that the engine of that book was their love in the circumstance that they find themselves in. But because the book was called The Innocents, I kept thinking about Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, and I started to wonder, could I do what he did where he took Songs of Innocence and flipped it on its head? I think he said he was writing those sequences to show the two contrary natures of the human soul. So really, The Adversary was a deliberate attempt to write the worst of who we are as human beings.' You just have to look at people like Trump and Putin and Netanyahu – the list is endless. I think they are who they appear to be … In most cases, they get worse — Michael Crummey The present age, in which 'the worst of who we are as human beings is on the ascendance, particularly in the political realm' was part of what gave rise to the story, Crummey says. 'It feels like a pretty dark time. I don't know if I would have written a book like The Adversary 20 years ago ... It feels to me like the world is embracing ideas and people who feel like violence and cruelty and disdain for people who have less is to be celebrated.' While writing, Crummey deliberately avoided a redemption arc for his central characters. And while Caine and Abe are adversaries, this is not a hero/anti-hero set-up. Rather, both central characters are anti-heroes. Narratively, this presented a challenge: how do you write characters who don't change? Crummey's approach was to turn the focus to the characters around the Widow and her brother. 'It's about what happens when you find yourself in the orbit of a black hole, and how everyone, in the end, gets pulled into that abyss.' He likens the scenario to Trump's relationship with the United States. 'When he was elected the first time, endless numbers of commentators said, 'We don't have to worry too much because there will be adults in the room, and they will curb the worst of his impulses.' And, of course, they all left or got fired or else decided [to] get on the train and become enablers. And that's what happens in this novel. People either decide to get on the train, or they're pushed aside, or destroyed.' The current political climate has made Crummey 'more misanthropic' than he used to be, he says. I have always said that ignorance has been my best friend in this whole process - not knowing how bad I was at the start, not knowing how long it was all going to take — Michael Crummey 'I've lost the ability to believe that redemption, or a personal change, can come over anybody. You just have to look at people like Trump and Putin and Netanyahu – the list is endless. I think they are who they appear to be ... In most cases, they get worse, as well.' Misanthropic may be the word he uses to describe himself but across the screen Crummey seems a gentle and open type, with endless passion for his work. Michael Crummey likens his narrative approach in The Adversary to Trump's relationship with the US: 'People either decide to get on the train, or they're pushed aside, or destroyed' Writing, he says, 'felt like a vocation from the beginning, but a ridiculous vocation. It felt a bit like saying, well, I want to collect bottle caps for a living.' Growing up, he followed his mother's influence and became 'the reader in the family', but it wasn't until he went to university to study English that writing became a serious pursuit. Poetry came first, then prose. Through his 20s, he worked 'crappy jobs' to support his vocation, publishing in journals and honing his craft, before releasing his debut collection of poetry, Arguments with Gravity, when he was 30. His debut short story collection, Flesh and Blood, came soon after. 'I think if someone had told me when I started out that it would be 13 or 14 years before I published my first book, I might have given it up or not started. But I have always said that ignorance has been my best friend in this whole process, you know, not knowing how bad I was at the start, not knowing how long it was all going to take.' [ Paul Durcan: 'Poetry was a gift that he loved to give others' Opens in new window ] Crummey's early work saw much success, including several award nominations and wins, but it wasn't until his third novel, Galore, that he began to feel he knew what he was doing as a writer. 'I don't know any writers who don't struggle with a sense of impostor syndrome,' he says. '[Being a writer] feels like it's something you keep having to prove to yourself. But I think [Galore] was the first time I wrote a book where I felt that's the book I was meant to write, and everything I had done up to that point felt it was leading me to a place where I was capable of writing that book.' The only problem with such an achievement, of course, was how to follow it. 'For a long time, I did feel like that novel was a roadblock. I'd written the book I wanted to write, so what do you do after that? But luckily, I have carried on, partly because I'm no good at anything else.' Of late, Crummey has been working on a poetry collection and some film scripts, though he also says he's 'starting to sneak back into that novel space in my head'. We joke that having won the award, all of that will go out the window. 'Now that I have some laurels to rest on, maybe I should just rest on my laurels,' he laughs. 'But I quit my day job about 25 years ago, and that felt like a fairly reckless thing to do. It always felt temporary. But I'm starting to think – I'm almost at retirement age – and I am starting to think I might make it through and as a writer. There's no certificate to put on your wall [to say you've qualified], but maybe that's the real sense of accomplishment and blessing – to think: no, this is it, this is my life, and I'll be able to do it until I decide I'm done with it.' The Adversary by Michael Crummey is published by Vintage Canada. Michael Crummey is the 30th winner of The Dublin Literary Award, sponsored by Dublin City Council.
Extra.ie
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Canadian author Michael Crummey wins Dublin Literary Award for The Adversary
Michael Crummey, a Canadian author, has earned this year's Dublin Literary Award for his book The Adversary. Sponsored by Dublin City Council, books are nominated by public libraries across the globe, recognising both writers and translators. This year marked the awards' 30th year running. The prize of 100,000 makes this honour the most valuable annual prize for a single work of fiction published in English. 'To have won the Dublin Literary Award leaves me thrilled and deeply, deeply grateful, said Crummey. 'It's something I will carry with me always.' 'I would not be here today without the Buchans Public Library, the library in my hometown. It's like a small mining town, maybe 1,500 people down 70km of a dead-end road. But the library was the place where I found the world outside my town, and it just gave me such a sense of possibility. So the fact that the Newfoundland public libraries that nominated the book for this award are still opening me up to the world and sending me out into the world that just makes me so thrilled.' The Adversary is set in an isolated outpost, where an act of sabotage sends a man and a woman down a long road of mistrust and revenge. It was nominated by Newfoundland and Labrador libraries in Canada, and chosen from a shortlist of six novels from Argentina, Ireland, the Netherlands and the US. The longlist of 71 books was nominated by 83 libraries from 34 countries. At Dublin's International Literature Festival, Lord Mayor and Patron of the Award Emma Blain announced the winner alongside Dublin City Council CEO Richard Shakespeare. 'The award celebrating 30 years is a source of pride for us in our UNESCO City of Literature, said Shakespeare. It has supported writers, translators and readers over the years, and brings the world closer through the power of imaginative storytelling.'
