From "a literary talent to watch" (Library Journal), Saints of Big Harbour is a funny, brutal, and unbelievably vivid novel about a small community, economic hardship, and the inescapable power of gossip. Coady gives us the unforgettable Guy Boucher, a fatherless teenager, who finds himself at the center of an ugly rumor involving a girl idealized by her town. Through Guy's eyes and the stories of those who surround him -- his uncle Isadore, Dickensian and overbearing; Pam, a quietly wise girl with a predilection for Shakespeare; his draft-dodger English teacher; a pair of golden boys stuck in emotional adolescence -- several versions of truth emerge and collide. As the story unfolds in "rough-and tumble language . . . [but also] bits glittering bits of poetry" (Boston Globe), so does a portrait of a community driven and oppressed by clichés of gender, strength and beauty, family and love. "Luscious, fresh, and often funny . . . Coady paints a panoramic, open human landscape that shows her to be a master chronicler of place and culture" (Globe and Mail).