The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx

The story centers on Quoyle, a newspaper worker from upstate New York whose father had emigrated from Newfoundland. Shortly after the suicide of his parents, Quoyle's unfaithful and abusive wife Petal and her lover leave town. Days later, she sells their daughters to a 'black market adoption agency' for the sum of $6,000. Soon thereafter, Petal and her lover are killed in a car accident; the young girls are located by police and returned to Quoyle. Despite the safe return of his daughters, Quoyle's life is collapsing and his paternal aunt, Agnis Hamm, convinces him to return to their ancestral home of Newfoundland for a new beginning. This ancestral home is situated on Quoyle's Point. He obtains work as a car-accident reporter for the Gammy Bird, local newspaper of the town of Killick-Claw. The Gammy Bird's editor also asks him to document the shipping news, arrivals and departures from the local port, which soon grows into Quoyle's signature articles on boats of interest in the harbour. Quoyle gradually makes friends within the community, learns about his own troubled family background, and begins a relationship with a local woman, Wavey. Quoyle's growth in confidence and emotional strength, as well as his ability to be comfortable in a loving relationship, become the main focus for the book. A series of deep and disturbing secrets about his ancestors emerge in strange ways.

The 254th greatest fiction book of all time


This book is on the following lists:

  1. - 37th on Koen Book Distributors Top 100 Books of the Past Century (themodernnovel.com)
  2. - Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (Pulitzer Prize)
  3. - National Book Award - Fiction (National Book Foundation)
  4. - The 50 Books Everyone Needs to Read, 1963-2013 (Flavor Wire)
  5. - 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die (The Book)
  6. - 100 Novels That Shaped Our World (BBC)

Buy This Book

Name Binding Sales Rank Lowest New Lowest Used Published
The Shipping News A Novel Hardcover 233379 $9.99 $1.17
The Shipping News Hardcover 368597 $17.88 $2.05 1999
The Shipping News Paperback 937301 $2.91 $0.01 1994
The Shipping News Mass Market Paperback 1173188 $0.93 $0.01 2002
The Shipping News Paperback 2799392 $0.63
The SHIPPING NEWS Audio Cassette 4918071 $3.50 $0.10 1995
The Shipping News: A Novel Paperback 1977348 $0.42 $0.01 2002
The Shipping News Audio CD 2226687 $49.95 $19.85 2001
The Shipping News Hardcover 2258600 $14.48
The Shipping News Audio CD 6575454 $14.99
The shipping News : A Novel Paperback 4299018 $5.00 $0.01
The Shipping News Hardcover 3510763 $318.99 $6.64
The Shipping News Audio CD 8149750 $79.99
The Shipping News Paperback 2297753 $0.44 $0.01 1993
Atando cabos / the Shipping News (Spanish Edition) Paperback 8314450 $93.19 $17.20 2002
The Shipping News Hardcover 8473929 $24.88 $7.50 1999
The Shipping News Paperback 6529669 $6.95 1994
The Shipping News Paperback 24320 $2.41 $0.25 1994
The Shipping News: A Novel Kindle Edition 25197 $10.38 2008
[The Shipping News] (By: Annie Proulx) [published: March, 1995] Paperback 1859675 $24.99 $3.88 1995
Atando Cabos (Fabula (Tusquets Editores)) (Spanish Edition) Paperback 7478506 $14.68 $13.45 2002