Felix Ryan, from Curlew, Conception Bay, has been in love with the enigmatic Ellen Monteau ever since the day he met her in school at Smallwood High. Friends and family try to warn him that she is nothing but trouble. Meanwhile, trouble is brewing at home, as Felix's father erects an enormous sign on his house condemning Premier Joey Smallwood — much to the chagrin of his family and their Liberal neighbours in the early days after Confederation. The uproariously funny and at times heartbreaking tale of a young man's rough ride into adulthood, moving from rural Newfoundland to the hectic life of Memorial University in the late 1960s. The Sign on My Father's House marks Tom Moore's triumphant and long-anticipated return to literary fiction. source
Scene
Memorial University — Queen Elizabeth II Library
“Felix Ryan, from Curlew, Conception Bay, has been in love with the enigmatic Ellen Monteau ever since the day he met her in school at Smallwood High. … Felix's father erects an enormous sign on his house condemning Premier Joey Smallwood … He moves from rural Newfoundland to the hectic life of Memorial University in the late 1960s.”
Flanker publisher copy and Miramichi Reader review confirm Curlew (Conception Bay) and Memorial University; the sign reads "GOD DAM SMALLWOOD." Won 2020 NL Reads.
Flanker Press product page; corroborated by Miramichi Reader and Newfoundland Herald — source
