Many years ago I worked in a public school and one of the teachers highly recommended the work of Canadian author Margaret Laurence me. It wasn't until years later that I finally got around to reading one of her books, The Stone Angel, a novel I hugely admire and consider one of my own personal favorites. Anyone who can make the prickly Hagar Shipley a sympathetic character is a talented author indeed.
I believe Laurence is a well respected and noted author in Canada, so she likely doesn't need me to save her from the library stacks, but as I don't often see her name when I am out and about surfing on the web, and I came across this lovely Virago edition of The Fire-Dwellers, I didn't think twice about pulling it off the shelf and bringing it home with me.
The story, written in 1969, is about a woman in an unhappy marriage in which she feels inadequate. Nearing forty she believes if only she were thinner or smarter or prettier she would feel more satisfaction. (Familiar thoughts I suspect for many women--certainly they have on occasion crossed my mind). Faced with these emotions she begins an affair with a younger man, which doesn't solve her problems any more than drink does. Of course happiness is something that can only happen when a person looks within to try and understand, which is what Stacey must do to solve her problems.
This is one of five novels that makes up the Manawaka sequence of books--Manawaka is the fictional town in the province of Manitoba based on her actual home town of Neepawa. The books that make up the sequence are: The Stone Angel, A Jest of God, The Fire-Dwellers, A Bird in the House and The Diviners.
I'm curious about this book (and not sure whether the set needs to be read in order) as Laurence supposedly does some interesting things with the narration of the story. It begins:
"Ladybird, ladybird,
Fly away home;
Your house is on fire,
Your children are gone.--Crazy rhyme. Got it on the brain this morning. That's from trying to teach Jen a few human words yesterday. Why anybody would want to teach a kid a thing like that, I wouldn't know. Half those nursery rhymes are gruesome, when you come to think of it. Here is a candle to light your bed, and here comes a chopper to chop off your head. Just the thing to make the sprouts sleep soundly, especially if I followed by that prayer about if I should die before I wake. Maybe it's okay, though. Prepares them for what they can expect. Stacey, you sure are joyful first thing in the morning. First thing, hell. It's a quarter to nine, and here's me not dressed yet."
Something I noticed when I read The Stone Angel, and I suspect is also true with this book--it is one I think I will appreciate more as an adult with years and experience behind me, rather than as a younger woman. Times and circumstances may change, but there are some emotions and feelings that will always remain the same. Since Laurence writes about universal themes and stories that can be returned to and read more deeply, I'm not surprised she has achieved classic status and certainly she should be more widely read.