Author | Wayne Johnston |
---|---|
Language | English |
Publisher | Knopf Canada |
Publication date | September 30, 1998 |
Publication place | Canada |
Pages | 562 |
ISBN | 0676971822 |
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is a novel by Wayne Johnston, published on September 30, 1998 by Knopf Canada. Johnston's breakthrough work, the novel was a Canadian bestseller, and was shortlisted for the 1998 Giller Prize and the 1998 Governor General's Award for English fiction.[1][2]
In 2003, Justin Trudeau championed the book on CBC Radio's Canada Reads.[3]
A work of historical fiction, the novel presents a fictionalized portrayal of real-life Newfoundland politician Joey Smallwood, the political leader who brought the province into Canadian Confederation in 1949. A major literary device in the novel is the intertwining of his life, since childhood, with (fictional) journalist Sheilagh Fielding.
A stage adaptation by Robert Chafe premiered in February 2015.[4][5] It was nominated for the Governor General's Literary Award in 2017.[6]