American writer Joan Hiatt Harlow’s impressions of Newfoundland were shaped by stories told to her in childhood by her mother, who grew up there. Both Harlow’s affection for Newfoundland and the romance of her mother’s stories set the tone for this novel for middle readers, set on Newfoundland’s south coast in 1929.

Thirteen-year-old orphan Tom Campbell is searching for a home and family as he travels from the Grenfell Mission orphanage to the tiny community of Back o’ the Moon Island. Kind Enoch and Fiona Murray immediately take to Tom, who despite his lonely childhood is smart and capable, with a “good heart.” Tom’s rescue of a Newfoundland dog from the stormy sea on his very first day fishing – he has always wished for a dog – makes his dream of belonging almost complete. But then comes news that Fiona is to have a baby, and an earthquake and tidal wave devastate the community, leaving the Murrays without a boat or livelihood and ruining Tom’s idyllic new life.

Harlow’s view of Newfoundland life in the novel is highly romanticized, and as a result her characters lack any real depth. In the same way, the earthquake (based on an actual earthquake and tidal wave that hit Newfoundland in 1929), fails to create a lasting impact on either the characters or the story. The narrative also suffers from a very distracting overuse, and sometimes misuse, of quaint Newfoundland words and phrases; a glossary would have been helpful.

Thunder from the Sea leaves a storybook impression of life in outport Newfoundland in the 1920s rather than any real sense of place or time – a shame given the compelling chapter of Newfoundland history at its centre.