Kissing the big-city life goodbye, Udo Nomi retu s to Newfoundland from Toronto for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to be a hero for his people to help free The Republic. In a comic, quasi-parody of the liberties taken by contemporary writers of historical fiction, Udo discovers the quagmires which exist in historical scholarship. The past is not so certain after all. Perhaps what really matters, Udo comes to lea , is the way we narrate the present and our own role in it. A romp through downtown St. John's, blending the comic with the serious and farce with political sincerity, Retu of the Native is a fast-paced, humorous novel about both what's been done to Newfoundland and what makes a Newfoundlander. ENDORSEMENTS A rum-soaked remake of Thomas Hardy's classic, Jonathan Butler's Retu of the Native staggers the streets of St. John's with its unlikely heroes on their quixotic quest to win the independence of their island home.