The Whale Chaser — Tony Ardizzone

The Whale Chaser is the story of Vince Sansone, the eldest child and only son in a large Italian American family, who comes of age in 1960s Chicago. A constant disappointment to his embittered father - a fishmonger who shows his displeasure with his fists - Vince finds solace by falling in love. Classmate Marie Santangelo, the butcher's winsome daughter, entices him with passionate kisses and the prospect of entering her family's business. Yet he pursues Lucy Sheehan, an older girl with a "reputation."

When Vince abruptly flees Chicago, he ends up in Tofino, a picturesque fishing town on the rugged west coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. He finds a job gutting fish, then is hired by Tofino's most colorful dealer, Mr. Zig-Zag, and joins the thriving marijuana trade. Ultimately, through his friendship with an Ahousaht native named Ignatius George, he finds his calling as a whale guide.

Set in the turbulent decades of the Vietnam War and the drug and hippie counterculture, The Whale Chaser is a powerful story about the possibility of redemption.