To the harsh domain of Rockbound - governed by the sternly righteous and
rapacious Uriah Jung - comes the youthful David Jung to claim his small
share of the island. Filled with dreamy optimism and a love for the
unspoken promises of the night sky, David tries to find his way in a
narrow, unforgiving, and controlled world. His conflicts are both
internal and external, locking him in an unceasing struggle for
survival; sometimes the sea is his enemy, sometimes his own rude
behavior, sometimes his best friend Gershom Born, sometimes his secret
love for the island teacher Mary Dauphiny; but always, inevitably, his
Jung relatives and their manifold ambitions for money and power.
The balance of life on Rockbound is precarious and thus fiercely guarded
by all who inhabit its lonely domain, but just as a sudden change in the
direction of the wind can lead to certain peril at sea, so too can the
sudden change in the direction of a man's heart lead to a danger
altogether unknown.
Enormously evocative of the power, terror, and dramatic beauty of the
Atlantic sea, and unrelenting in its portrait of back-breaking labour,
cunning bitterness, and family strife, Rockbound is a story of many
passions - love, pride, greed, and yearning - all formed and buffeted on
a small island by an unyielding wind and the rocky landscape of the
human spirit.
Canada Reads 2005 Winner!
