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Redjack
“. . . one of Canada’s master storytellers.”
— The Miramichi Reader
Redjack, the hated fish culler, awakens in the bottom of a heaving punt adrift on the Atlantic Ocean. Following the beating he took from his only son, he slinks into the inner bays. Jake, son of Redjack, is home from the failed battle for Suvla Bay in the Great War. With his family, he sails to Trinity Bay to fulfill a promise given to a friend who died in the hell of a Turkish trench. There, unbeknownst to them, they become afflicted with the Spanish flu by the mother of the soldier. On the way home, a fierce storm drives Jake deep into the bays for shelter, where he must come face to face with Redjack again. The virus they bring to their isolated island home changes forever the lives of those who remain. From the award-winning author of The Last Beothuk and What Colour is the Ocean?
— The Miramichi Reader
Redjack, the hated fish culler, awakens in the bottom of a heaving punt adrift on the Atlantic Ocean. Following the beating he took from his only son, he slinks into the inner bays. Jake, son of Redjack, is home from the failed battle for Suvla Bay in the Great War. With his family, he sails to Trinity Bay to fulfill a promise given to a friend who died in the hell of a Turkish trench. There, unbeknownst to them, they become afflicted with the Spanish flu by the mother of the soldier. On the way home, a fierce storm drives Jake deep into the bays for shelter, where he must come face to face with Redjack again. The virus they bring to their isolated island home changes forever the lives of those who remain. From the award-winning author of The Last Beothuk and What Colour is the Ocean?
223 pages, Paperback
Published February 11, 2022
1 person is currently reading
284 people want to read
About the author
Gary Collins
15 books13 followersGary Collins was born in Hare Bay, Bonavista North. He spent forty years in the logging and sawmilling business with his father, Theophilus, and son Clint. Gary was once Newfoundland's youngest fisheries guardian. He managed log drives down spring rivers for years, spent seven seasons driving tractor-trailers over ice roads and the Beaufort Sea of Canada's Western Arctic, and has been involved in the crab, lobster, and cod commercial fisheries. In 2016, he joined the Canadian Rangers.
Gary's writing career began when he was asked to write eulogies for deceased friends and family. Now a critically acclaimed author, he has written twelve books, including the children's illustrated book What Colour is the Ocean?, which he co-wrote with his granddaughter, Maggie Rose Parsons. That book won an Atlantic Book Award: The Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration. His book Mattie Mitchell: Newfoundland's Greatest Frontiersman has been adapted for film. His first novel, The Last Beothuk, won the inaugural NL Reads literary competition, administered by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Gary Collins is Newfoundland and Labrador's favourite storyteller, and today he is known all over the province as "the Story Man." His favourite pastimes are reading, writing, and playing guitar at his log cabin. He lives in Hare Bay, Newfoundland, with his wife, the former Rose Gill. They have three children and three grandchildren
Gary's writing career began when he was asked to write eulogies for deceased friends and family. Now a critically acclaimed author, he has written twelve books, including the children's illustrated book What Colour is the Ocean?, which he co-wrote with his granddaughter, Maggie Rose Parsons. That book won an Atlantic Book Award: The Lillian Shepherd Memorial Award for Excellence in Illustration. His book Mattie Mitchell: Newfoundland's Greatest Frontiersman has been adapted for film. His first novel, The Last Beothuk, won the inaugural NL Reads literary competition, administered by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Gary Collins is Newfoundland and Labrador's favourite storyteller, and today he is known all over the province as "the Story Man." His favourite pastimes are reading, writing, and playing guitar at his log cabin. He lives in Hare Bay, Newfoundland, with his wife, the former Rose Gill. They have three children and three grandchildren
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 11, 2022
The newest release from Gary Collins and Flanker Press is a superb tale of the devastating consequences of family trauma and the effect it can have through generations. This novel has many interconnecting stories and Collins does an exceptional job of keeping the reader engaged and immersed in the story.
Redjack is a man feared by many; he is equally loathed for his depravity and his felonious past. And now he finds himself beaten and alone, a virtual hermit in a secluded bay cabin who must trap and hunt to survive; an outcast. His son Jake, conceived under barbaric circumstances, has grown up knowing that his mother can barely stand the sight of him, his brilliant red hair a constant reminder of the man who destroyed her life. Jake having returned from the war with a letter in his pocket (the last words of a friend lost in battle) must fulfill his promise to deliver this letter to the fallen soldier’s mother in Trinity Bay. Jake, along with his wife Eliza and young son Templar, sets sail across Bonavista Bay to follow through on this promise. It is here that young Templar contracts Spanish Flu, a relatively mysterious illness that has just made its way to the island’s shores. A deadly storm arises on their return trip, and needing shelter from the wind and waves, Jake seeks refuge in the same bay were Redjack now lives in exile. It is a portentous encounter. Together with their gravely ill son, Jake and his wife return to their home bringing with them the Spanish Flu and setting off a course of events that will forever change the people they care about the most.
There is much about redemption in this book, or perhaps the question of redemption. Can people really change? Do they deserved a second chance when they have wronged us so terribly? There is a profound sadness in this book, at least for me it felt that way. The thought of what might have been or what could have been if things have been done differently. The characters in this story, though flawed, are wonderfully real. The setting is, of course, as vivid and “alive” as the characters; I could smell the salt air, feel the fog on my skin; I could feel the Eliza’s fear and panic as young Templar battled to survive.
I would be remiss if I did not once again mention this books namesake, Redjack. By rights he is a terrible, awful man. Yet, Collins has managed to make me feel something akin to pity for him. The scene with Redjack and the foxes; I had such complex feelings about that. Likewise, when Redjack met his grandson for the first time. We, as readers, have this knowledge of Redjack’s past and it is, at times, difficult to reconcile this with the man presented to us in the present. I’m still thinking about it and probably will for a while.
I don’t often recommend judging a book by its cover but as soon as I saw this book with that beautiful artwork on the front cover … I knew it was going to be fantastic. And I was right. A story of love, loss and redemption “Redjack” is a do not miss read from one of Canada’s foremost storytellers.
Redjack is a man feared by many; he is equally loathed for his depravity and his felonious past. And now he finds himself beaten and alone, a virtual hermit in a secluded bay cabin who must trap and hunt to survive; an outcast. His son Jake, conceived under barbaric circumstances, has grown up knowing that his mother can barely stand the sight of him, his brilliant red hair a constant reminder of the man who destroyed her life. Jake having returned from the war with a letter in his pocket (the last words of a friend lost in battle) must fulfill his promise to deliver this letter to the fallen soldier’s mother in Trinity Bay. Jake, along with his wife Eliza and young son Templar, sets sail across Bonavista Bay to follow through on this promise. It is here that young Templar contracts Spanish Flu, a relatively mysterious illness that has just made its way to the island’s shores. A deadly storm arises on their return trip, and needing shelter from the wind and waves, Jake seeks refuge in the same bay were Redjack now lives in exile. It is a portentous encounter. Together with their gravely ill son, Jake and his wife return to their home bringing with them the Spanish Flu and setting off a course of events that will forever change the people they care about the most.
There is much about redemption in this book, or perhaps the question of redemption. Can people really change? Do they deserved a second chance when they have wronged us so terribly? There is a profound sadness in this book, at least for me it felt that way. The thought of what might have been or what could have been if things have been done differently. The characters in this story, though flawed, are wonderfully real. The setting is, of course, as vivid and “alive” as the characters; I could smell the salt air, feel the fog on my skin; I could feel the Eliza’s fear and panic as young Templar battled to survive.
I would be remiss if I did not once again mention this books namesake, Redjack. By rights he is a terrible, awful man. Yet, Collins has managed to make me feel something akin to pity for him. The scene with Redjack and the foxes; I had such complex feelings about that. Likewise, when Redjack met his grandson for the first time. We, as readers, have this knowledge of Redjack’s past and it is, at times, difficult to reconcile this with the man presented to us in the present. I’m still thinking about it and probably will for a while.
I don’t often recommend judging a book by its cover but as soon as I saw this book with that beautiful artwork on the front cover … I knew it was going to be fantastic. And I was right. A story of love, loss and redemption “Redjack” is a do not miss read from one of Canada’s foremost storytellers.
April 30, 2022
In Redjack Gary Collins provided a great feel for life in Newfoundland at the end of WWI. He has obviously done his research on life during these times, from the soldiers in the Newfoundland Regiment fighting in Suvla, to the Spanish Flu, to the life of the fishermen in the area.
Overall an enjoyable read and an emotional rollercoaster.
I received a copy of this book for free through Goodreads First-Reads
Overall an enjoyable read and an emotional rollercoaster.
I received a copy of this book for free through Goodreads First-Reads
April 3, 2022
To quote from the book: "it all felt like an olden tale told by my mother on a stormy winter's night." That's the charm of a Gary Collins book in a nutshell. The sequel to The Crackie. Read 'em all!
March 9, 2022
Who is Redjack?
“The troll under the bridge,” says his grandson Templar when he first sees Redjack, his hair “red as fish gills” and his shaggy beard growing “like a fungus from his face.”
By the state of him, Granny would say he looks like a booly-boo, eh b’ys?
Once a hated fish culler, Redjack now lives as a recluse, alone in a ramshackle shack in a remote inlet on Newfoundland’s northeast coast. Half wild, Redjack lives off the sea and land. Hatred for his son Jake festers like a boil in his belly. Jake, aka the Crackie, fueled by facts about his own violent conception, once fought Redjack and thoroughly kicked his arse.
So, there’s Redjack, half-savage, his puddick plugged with a bitter urge for vengeance, but …
… but sorely in need of redemption.
Jake, in the meantime (Lief Erikson sailing west comes to mind), sails across Bonavista Bay and into Trinity Bay on a voyage to fulfill a promise he made to a dying friend during the Great War.
And so, the narrative spins on.
Mentioning ol’ Lief the Lucky caused me to think — Gary Collins’ stories often seem like epic tales. Like sagas.
While I read Redjack [Flanker Press], I felt as if the characters, albeit ordinary folk in homespun tales, are living and dying on a vast, yet familiar stage.
For instance: Jake becomes caught in a storm on the vast North Atlantic. Trusting to his punt’s “sweet spot” to keep him safe, he is “borne away by the mindless wind.” A huge comber builds behind the punt — a rogue that “appeared to have flattened but was only gathering strength.”
Yet: Aunt Jane lies on her deathbed while a soft rain falls and drips into a water barrel making ordinary familiar sounds — “It plinked and tinkled like sweet music or maybe a sad requiem.”
B’ys, any of that make a grain of sense?
Should I get out more?
Well then, if Gray Collins’ stories are not entirely the stuff of sagas, they’re bloody well time machines, that’s for sure.
Listen: While sailing pass Cape Bonavista’s lighthouse with his wife and son, Jake tells them, “merely as a point of interest,” about the light’s connection with the Inchcape Rock.
The Inchcape Rock!
Time warp!
I was no longer hove off in my Lay-Z-Boy here in Covid Times. I was on Random Island in a previous century, a callow bay-boy scholar in one of Joey Smallwood’s brand new schools, reading a fine old poem — The Inchcape Rock, in which that friggin’ Sir Ralph the Rover cuts the warning bell off the treacherous rock and lets it sink to the bottom of the sea.
BTW: Sir Ralph gets his comeuppance when, years later, his ship founders on the Inchcape Rock, and he sinks to the bottom to join the bell.
Redjack was written in Covid Times, times that surely influenced the author. As an ominous foreshadowing of an unknown future, Gary Collins has written the Spanish Flu into Redjack’s story and given it a fatal role to play.
(Friggin’ Covid!)
Before I got sidetracked by Erikson and epic yarns, I suggested Redjack needs redemption.
Does “the troll under the bridge” get redemption?
Maybe. You know how to find out.
Nevertheless, Jake’s friend, the Catholic, on his battlefield deathbed, allows that “redemption is available for all, even till the eleventh hour.”
That’s biblical, I think.
Thank you for reading.
“The troll under the bridge,” says his grandson Templar when he first sees Redjack, his hair “red as fish gills” and his shaggy beard growing “like a fungus from his face.”
By the state of him, Granny would say he looks like a booly-boo, eh b’ys?
Once a hated fish culler, Redjack now lives as a recluse, alone in a ramshackle shack in a remote inlet on Newfoundland’s northeast coast. Half wild, Redjack lives off the sea and land. Hatred for his son Jake festers like a boil in his belly. Jake, aka the Crackie, fueled by facts about his own violent conception, once fought Redjack and thoroughly kicked his arse.
So, there’s Redjack, half-savage, his puddick plugged with a bitter urge for vengeance, but …
… but sorely in need of redemption.
Jake, in the meantime (Lief Erikson sailing west comes to mind), sails across Bonavista Bay and into Trinity Bay on a voyage to fulfill a promise he made to a dying friend during the Great War.
And so, the narrative spins on.
Mentioning ol’ Lief the Lucky caused me to think — Gary Collins’ stories often seem like epic tales. Like sagas.
While I read Redjack [Flanker Press], I felt as if the characters, albeit ordinary folk in homespun tales, are living and dying on a vast, yet familiar stage.
For instance: Jake becomes caught in a storm on the vast North Atlantic. Trusting to his punt’s “sweet spot” to keep him safe, he is “borne away by the mindless wind.” A huge comber builds behind the punt — a rogue that “appeared to have flattened but was only gathering strength.”
Yet: Aunt Jane lies on her deathbed while a soft rain falls and drips into a water barrel making ordinary familiar sounds — “It plinked and tinkled like sweet music or maybe a sad requiem.”
B’ys, any of that make a grain of sense?
Should I get out more?
Well then, if Gray Collins’ stories are not entirely the stuff of sagas, they’re bloody well time machines, that’s for sure.
Listen: While sailing pass Cape Bonavista’s lighthouse with his wife and son, Jake tells them, “merely as a point of interest,” about the light’s connection with the Inchcape Rock.
The Inchcape Rock!
Time warp!
I was no longer hove off in my Lay-Z-Boy here in Covid Times. I was on Random Island in a previous century, a callow bay-boy scholar in one of Joey Smallwood’s brand new schools, reading a fine old poem — The Inchcape Rock, in which that friggin’ Sir Ralph the Rover cuts the warning bell off the treacherous rock and lets it sink to the bottom of the sea.
BTW: Sir Ralph gets his comeuppance when, years later, his ship founders on the Inchcape Rock, and he sinks to the bottom to join the bell.
Redjack was written in Covid Times, times that surely influenced the author. As an ominous foreshadowing of an unknown future, Gary Collins has written the Spanish Flu into Redjack’s story and given it a fatal role to play.
(Friggin’ Covid!)
Before I got sidetracked by Erikson and epic yarns, I suggested Redjack needs redemption.
Does “the troll under the bridge” get redemption?
Maybe. You know how to find out.
Nevertheless, Jake’s friend, the Catholic, on his battlefield deathbed, allows that “redemption is available for all, even till the eleventh hour.”
That’s biblical, I think.
Thank you for reading.
April 26, 2022
I thoroughly enjoy offerings by this author, his use of prose and ability to tell a story is hard to match. This one I enjoyed but thought it went on too long in my opinion, with a lot of repetition at the end. The last few chapters from the son's point of view could have been dropped because it seemed like it was just there to add to the length and not the value of the story. It could have ended sooner or with more emphasis on Redjack himself rather than his son and grandson. There wasn't a whole lot of excitement in the tale but masterful telling just the same. Gary Collins is one of my favourites and I'll continue to be a fan.
April 16, 2022
I enjoyed Redjack and was brought back to the other two in the series many times. Collins writes beautiful prose in his descriptions of the land and sea. This story heralds the outcomes of forgiveness of self and others as the characters use time and place, commitments, promises, and love to navigate life.
Want to read
June 10, 2022I enjoyed this book.
It gave an honest view of what life in Nfld as a fisherman would be like. The closeness of family yet isolation as well. Secrets almost always come out.
Redjack
It gave an honest view of what life in Nfld as a fisherman would be like. The closeness of family yet isolation as well. Secrets almost always come out.
Redjack
May 10, 2022
I always love books set in Newfoundland and this is no exception. This is a timely tale of family drama and the Spanish flu coming to the area in 1918. The authentic, lyrical prose also depict, with great understanding, what life was like for Newfoundlanders in remote outports at this time.
July 28, 2022
I was visiting NFLD when I read this. It was a good story and a neat depiction of life on The Rock.
August 31, 2022
I quite enjoyed this book, even without knowing any sailing terms. I was engaged and loved learning about the dramas of each member of the family and those they met in their travels.
December 1, 2022
A master storyteller! An excellent read by Gary Collins, certainly one of his best , if not the best one I’ve read. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews