"The Colony of Unrequited Dreams" is a sweeping mystery and love story set in Newfoundland, following Joey Smallwood, who rises from poverty to become the first premier, and Sheilagh Fielding, a satirical writer. Their intertwined lives reflect themes of ambition, love, and the clash of personal and historical narratives.
Carol Shields's award-winning and critically acclaimed "literary mystery," first published in 1987. Swann is the story of four individuals who become entwined in the life of Mary Swann, a rural Canadian poet whose authentic and unique voice is discovered only hours before her husband hacks her to pieces.Who is Mary Swann? And how could she have produced these works of genius in almost complete isolation? Mysteriously, all traces of Swann's existence — her notebook, the first draft of her work, even her photograph — gradually vanish as the characters in this engrossing novel become caught up in their own concepts of who Mary Swann was.