Donna Morrissey – författare

NATIONAL BESTSELLERFINALIST FOR THE 2022 ATLANTIC BOOK AWARDS’ EVELYN RICHARDSON NON-FICTION AWARD A deeply personal account of love's restorative ability as it leads renowned novelist Donna Morrissey through mental illness, family death, and despair to becoming a writer--told with charm and inimitable humour.When Donna Morrissey left the only home she had ever known, an isolated Newfoundland settlement, at age 16, she was ready for adventure. She had grown up without television or telephones but had absorbed the tragic stories and comic yarns of her close-knit family and community. The death of her infant brother marked the family, and years later, Morrissey suffers devastating guilt about the accidental death of her teenage brother, whom she'd enticed to join her in the oilfields. Her misery was compounded by her own misdiagnosis of a terminal illness, all of which contributed to crippling anxiety and an actual diagnosis of PTSD. Many of those events and themes would eventually be transformed and recast as fictional gold in Morrissey's novels. In another writer's hands, Morrissey's account of her personal story could easily be a tragedy. Instead, she combines darkness and light, levity and sadness into her tale, as her indomitable spirit and humour sustain her. Morrissey's path takes her from the drudgery of being a grocery clerk (who occasionally enlivens her shift with recreational drugs) to western oilfields, to marriage and divorce and working in a fish-processing plant to support herself and her two young children. Throughout her struggles, she nourishes a love of learning and language.Morrissey layers her account of her life with stories of those who came before her, a breed rarely seen in the modern world. It centers around iron-willed women: mothers and daughters, wives, sisters, teachers and mentors who find the support, the wind for their wings, outside the bounds given to them by nature. And it is a mysterious older woman she meets in Halifax who eventually unleashes the writer that Morrissey is destined to become. An inspiring and insightful memoir, Pluck illustrates that even when you find yourself unravelling, you can find a way to spin the yarns that will save you--and delight readers everywhere.

Julia is a six-year old fairy who is scared of making mistakes "because they make her feel bad inside." She thought that everyone wanted her to be good and perfect.Her mother shows her that making mistakes are just a part of growing up and learning. She explains that everyone, even mommy and daddy, learn from them.Mom teaches her that the best thing to do when you make a mistake is to apologize and try to make up for it somehow. Then remember what you learned so that you don''t keep making those same mistakes."The more you practice walking up to that mistake and shaking its hand, the better you feel afterwards. It''s not scary at all. It is sad when you run away and hide from them. Those poor, beautiful mistakes just want to be loved for guiding you."This amusing story takes place in a fairy house with illustrations that include scampering woodland creatures and an abundance of love and magical fairy dust.