Set in a tragic, transformative year in an extraordinary place with larger-than-life characters, The Weather Diviner is a story of self-discovery—not just for one young woman, but for Newfoundland itself.
It’s 1942. With polished boots and bulging wallets, the Americans have come to defend a highly strategic location—Newfoundland: the Allies’ new transatlantic transportation hub. Like thousands of others chasing new opportunities, Violet Morgen abandons her remote outport home and heads to St. John's. An amateur forecaster with a powerful sixth sense for the island’s tempestuous winds and weather, Violet is determined to help the Americans fight the enemy. But determination, it turns out, is not enough.
Carefully-researched and -crafted, entertaining, and informative, The Weather Diviner is a heart-felt tale in which friends make a difference, weather makes for interesting conversation, and opportunity comes to those who dare to dream.
Advance Praise for The Weather Diviner:
“Elegant historical fiction. Murphy creates a palpable world of the past which still has plenty to say about today -- and plenty to say about how we write history in the first place. The Weather Diviner is a bracing and welcome reminder of the diversity of voices that make up the Newfoundland experience.”
Michelle Butler Hallett author of Constant Nobody, winner of the 2022 Thomas Raddall Award, and This Marlowe
“The Weather Diviner may be the most vivid and compelling evocation ever of St. John's during the Second World War. The novel's heroine charts her coming-of-age journey through a city in the throes of change in 1942 – one of the most eventful years in Newfoundland history.”
Trudy J. Morgan-Cole author of By the Rivers of Brooklyn and A Company of Rogues
Born and raised in Newfoundland, Elizabeth Murphy spent her professional career in a variety of educational roles as teacher, administrator, and professor. She completed her Ph.D. in Quebec, won awards for her research and writing while working at Memorial University, and served as a visiting professor in Bangkok. Nova Scotia is where she now lazes, reads, writes, and dreams of summer back home on the island and winter far away in Thailand. The Weather Diviner is her second novel.
