Pluck by Donna Morrissey

Pluck by Donna Morrissey, is sub-titled, “A memoir of a Newfoundland childhood and the raucous, terrible, amazing journey to becoming a novelist.” 

This book takes place from the time of Donna’s earliest memories in the late 1950s and early 1960s, to the end of her mother’s life, just a Donna’s first novel, Kit’s Law is accepted for publication in 1998. We read about early childhood years in a tiny community, risk taking teenage years and motherhood, and university years, completing a Social Work degree. We read about a family held close even when many are living away from home, as so many Newfoundlanders did, and do. 

At the centre of Pluck is an exploration of the trauma experienced by Donna Morrissey after the death of her brother, Ford. He was killed in an accident in Alberta – where Donna encouraged him to take a job, where she and her husband lived. Ford expected to work long enough to buy a new truck and return to Newfoundland – not to die there. Donna writes, “There’d been times, after Fordie died, when I’d look back with longing to before his death. Everything was measured in terms of before the accident or after the accident.”

Anyone who reads this book will grieve their own personal griefs, as Donna’s mother mourns the deaths of Donna’s younger brothers, two stillborn and an infant. Deaths that Donna’s mother felt responsible for until the end of her life.

It is also revealed that Donna Morrissey suffered from crippling anxiety, now managed. As Donna well knows, grief is part of life, as is anxiety. Worry must be accepted, peace can be found, as can love. An older woman, who appeared to be a mentor, encouraged Donna to write, to find her voice, to work at writing her first novel. Which she did, early mornings while her teenage children slept. Throughout her mother’s final illness Donna and her mother read together what Donna had written each day.

Donna Morrissey has not lived in Newfoundland for many years but was born and raised surrounded by family. In and out of the homes of relatives, a place where everyone knew each other, a place many eventually had to leave for work and education. As Donna did, to Corner Brook and then to the mainland, Ontario and Alberta, and Nova Scotia. Despite that, she can write Newfoundland as few others are able. Her exceptional novels tell of a time now past, of families persevering in remote places, enduring the pain of loss, and, always, abiding love.