We Came From Away

A love letter to the island of Newfoundland, this enchanting and funny story could only have been written by a "come-from-away."

On the island of Newfoundland at the edge of North America, if you're not an islander, you're a "come-from-away." And if you were born here and left never to return, according to Nora Houlihan, who is about to turn one hundred, you're the worst kind of CFA.

In celebration of her centenary, Nora has decreed that all her immediate family members-most of whom have deserted her and left her beloved Newfoundland-return to the island for her big day. But before they attend the party, she's arranged for them to have a cross-island road trip in the hopes they will see what they're missing and mend their wayward ways.
Her granddaughters Erica Flanagan and Eliza Cohen, feuding cousins, are both perplexed by the dictum but reluctantly agree to join their parents, Nora's two children, and the rest of the cousins on the trip. Erica, a journalist who hails from Toronto and Eliza, a hardened New York cookbook author who left not only the country but converted from Catholicism to Judaism, are both less than impressed by the thoughts of hiking in Gros Morne, staying at roadside motels and eating codfish.

With the mysterious Gordie O'Brien as their tour guide, the Houlihan clan grudgingly embarks on the adventure of a lifetime, prying open their minds and, most of all, their hearts to breathtaking landscapes, friendly people and mouthwatering food. By the time they arrive in the city of St. John's, they are ready to celebrate the one hundred years of the obstinate, tactless, enduringly obnoxious Nora. Or are they?

Before she lets them celebrate, Nora insists on a family meeting. Before she dies, Nora is intent on rattling a few family skeletons. By the time they emerge, the Houlihans will realize that they might have thought they knew their own family, but really, does anyone truly know their family?

They say you can't choose your family, but if you could, would you choose the one you have?