Alone at the edge of the world, two children must survive the wilderness and the darkest mysteries of growing up.

Shortlisted for the Giller Prize, Governor General's Literary Award and Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.

From award-winning author Michael Crummey comes a haunting and unforgettable historical novel of survival, isolation and the fierce bond between a brother and sister.

Orphaned in a remote cove on Newfoundland's wild coastline, a young brother and sister are left to fend for themselves. Armed with only a small boat and the scraps of knowledge passed down by their parents, they must endure brutal winters, devastating storms, hunger and disease.

But as childhood gives way to adulthood, their fierce loyalty is tested in ways neither could have imagined.

How far will they go to survive? And can the bond that sustains them withstand their darkest discoveries?

Atmospheric, heartbreaking and utterly compelling, The Innocents is a powerful story of human endurance, love and the limits of forgiveness.



MICHAEL CRUMMEY was born in Buchans, a mining town in the interior of Newfoundland, growing up there and in western Labrador. After thirteen years in self-imposed exile in Ontario, he moved home to Newfoundland in 2000. He is the author of five books of poetry, a book of short stories, and four other celebrated novels, including the Giller prize-nominated River Thieves. He lives in St. John's.



'Crummey does a powerfully unsettling job of imagining how the onset of sexual feelings and self-consciousness would affect an isolated brother and sister'



'Brilliantly written. Different. Unique.'



'This is a vivid reimagining of nature and a study of intimacy, involving and compassionate'



'Beautifully written [...] It is an unusual book that will stay with me for a long time'



'Beautiful, brutal and raw [...] Inspired by a story the author found in local archives, this is an incredibly haunting novel - the language powerfully pure, the story uniquely thought-provoking'