Pluck

Praise

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
FINALIST FOR THE 2022 ATLANTIC BOOK AWARDS’ EVELYN RICHARDSON NON-FICTION AWARD

One of:
Winnipeg Free Press‘s Best Books of 2021
CBC’s “57 works of Canadian nonfiction coming out in fall 2021 [that] we can’t wait to read”

“Remarkable. . . . [Pluck] is that rare book that pulls the curtain back on working life, illuminating both its stresses and sorrows and its unexpected joys.”
—The Globe and Mail

“I have heard many tell and sing about the challenges and blessings of the hard and happy times in outport Newfoundland, but never have I felt such a connection to it in story or song as in Donna Morrissey’s Pluck. I feel like I have walked the hills with her in an extraordinary childhood filled with death and dancing, where nothing was so fearsome or fascinating as ‘away’. This is a song of a story and I would love an encore.” 
—Alan Doyle, musician, actor and bestselling author of All Together Now

“The ups and downs of Donna Morrissey’s life would be enough to give anyone the bends. Pluck is a terrific read, a tale that will make you laugh and cry. Take the plunge.”
—Mark Critch, bestselling author of An Embarrassment of Critch’s and Son of a Critch

“In Pluck, Donna Morrissey turns her award-winning storytelling skills to a compelling, compassionate and often humorous account of growing up with her big, turbulent, loving family in outport Newfoundland. This deeply moving memoir is the story of a writer finding her way and her voice. But more so, it’s a powerful reflection on the experiences of tragedy and redemption, and the inextricably linked states of loss and love.”
—Pauline Dakin, bestselling author of Run, Hide, Repeat

“Every word of Donna Morrisey’s memoir, Pluck, is a gem. . . . From its first page you become enamoured of the people who raised, supported, pushed, cajoled or loved this author into becoming one of Canada’s best literary voices. . . . If turning the pain of life into beauty is an artist’s purpose, then this book is a masterpiece. . . . It is a memoir that reads like a novel, with a twist that will leave you gasping. . . . Unequivocally, a must-read, masterful, page-turner of a tale.”
—The Miramichi Reader

“Imagination, fortitude, pluck and metamorphosis are some of the themes of this . . . engaging account of the author’s ties to Newfoundland and her family in the context of her development as a writer.” 
—The Winnipeg Free Press

“Donna Morrissey [has] known and lived tragedies many of us only hear about. . . . [yet[ she writes about all of these things with such beauty. . . . There’s darkness, and she doesn’t shy away from it. It’s real. It’s raw. And it’s beautiful.
—Edwards Book Club Reviews

“Pluck is happy and sad and all that comes in between. But above all else, it is a great read.”
—Waterloo Region Record