The Smiling Land - by Alan Doyle (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

From one of Canada's most beloved and celebrated Newfoundlanders comes a rollicking insider's guide to the province, told as only Alan Doyle can tell it.

Few Canadian musicians are as synonymous with their home province as Alan Doyle is to his--and even fewer once worked as tour guides. In The Smiling Land, Alan reprises his tour-guiding role to welcome the rest of Canada to his home and take readers on an adventure: a freewheeling road trip through Newfoundland, its history, and its culture. From Fogo Island to the Southwest Coast, Labrador to Ferryland, and everywhere in between, Alan's Newfoundland awaits you.

There are visits to windswept coastlines and towering crags, ancient Viking and Basque fishing settlements, and more lighthouses than you can shake a foghorn at. More recent settlements are also part of the itinerary, from burgeoning arts venues and communities to more humble but no less world-class locales, such as Foley's Shed, a jaunty live-music pub that--as its name suggests--happens to be in some guy named Foley's shed. Alan provides savvy insider tips for visitors to St. John's, like how to score fish and chips and a free ride by hopping into the delivery person's car as they drive your food to your desired destination. Or, for the aspiring rum smuggler visiting the Burin Peninsula, how to sneak bottles from the French territory of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon to the shores of Newfoundland. There are dolphin sightings, cliffside hikes among flocks of ocean-plunging puffins, and a pilgrimage to the home of the (late) great auk. And what tour of Newfoundland could be complete without a short history of what can best be described as "icebergs that look like things," an illustrious history that includes an exact replica of the Virgin Mary that once washed into St. John's harbour, and the more recent--and far less holy--"Dickie Berg," which made international headlines for looking like . . . well, not the Virgin Mary.

Wildly entertaining, informative, and brimming with Alan's classic brand of storytelling and romping good fun, The Smiling Land is a celebration of Newfoundland--both its storied past and its ever-vibrant present.

Review Quotes

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
One of the Tyee's 2025 Holiday Reads
One of CBC's 45 Canadian Nonfiction Books to Read This Fall

Praise for Alan Doyle:

"Doyle is exuberant, irreverent, hilariously funny, and a heart-on-the-sleeve Newfoundlander. As a writer, he's all that and a bag of chips. . . . In his own words: Deadly." --Michael Crummey, bestselling author of The Adversary and The Innocents

"Doyle's effortless storytelling will have you on his side from the first page. He writes like he sings: with a sincerity and a love of life that is infectious." --Mark Critch, comedian and author of Son of a Critch

"What amazes me is, for all he has seen and done, Alan Doyle has never put another human being down. You won't be able to put him down either. You will get lost on his account. Lost on a brilliant journey." --Ron MacLean, host of Hockey Night in Canada

"Doyle has an eye for details, an ear for a good story and a well-honed ability to play out a yarn of his own." --Atlantic Books

"Doyle is an engaging and gifted storyteller who has penned laugh-out-loud, insightful, heartwarming, and enjoyable tale." --Winnipeg Free Press

"If you're lucky enough to have spent any time with Alan, then you may have heard one or two of these stories before. If you haven't, [his] book is the next best thing." --Ed Robertson, of Barenaked Ladies

"Doyle [is] a master storyteller in a land rich in that resource. . . . From the first time I laid eyes on him, Alan's been that guy, the funny, charming dude cursed with charisma, with the talent to back it up. [His] book gives great insight into that super-talented, creative and insightful mind of a true entertainer." --Perry Chafe, co-creator/writer of Republic of Doyle

"Alan Doyle the writer, like Alan Doyle the person, is charming, funny, a natural storyteller who can be sweet without sliding into sentimentality, who can be honest without tumbling into dark­ness." --Stephen Brunt, author of Gretzky's Tears: Hockey, Canada and the Day Everything Changed

About the Author

ALAN DOYLE is a Canadian musician, actor, writer, and Member of the Order of Canada. His albums as a solo artist and as front man for the Newfoundland Celtic rock band Great Big Sea have sold over a million copies. He has starred in such features as Ridley Scott's Robin Hood and CBC's Republic of Doyle. He has written four books, Where I Belong, A Newfoundlander in Canada, All Together Now, and The Smiling Land, all of which are national bestsellers. He has recently co-written and starred in a box-office-breaking stage musical, Tell Tale Harbour. Alan lives in St. John's, Newfoundland.