"My father has married me to a mad old man." These words, written on a slip of paper inside a fading brocade collar, are a clue to the unlikely marriage of a Jewish remittance man and a 14-year-old orphan in a remote Newfoundland fishing station. More curious still are the connections that entangle a retired schoolteacher and an Israeli scholar almost two centuries later. When the bereaved Rosehannah Quint and her mysterious "mister" retreat into winter quarters at the back of Ireland''s Eye, the two begin to develop an understanding based on curiosity as well as upon need - an understanding that works its way down the years. The Winterhouse is a compelling novel about finding oneself and creating one''s own community.