The first of Margaret Laurence's compelling series of novels set in Manawaka, the fictional Scots-Irish community that Laurence created based on her childhood home of Neepawa, Manitoba, is also one of her most enduring. The Stone Angel is the story of Hagar Shipley. Cantankerous, cranky and often befuddled at 90, Hagar isn't ready to give up her independence and go into an old-age home. But she is trapped in a body that is betraying her bit by bit and a mind that overwhelms her with passionate, painful memories.
In this intimate accounting of her life, she recalls her privileged life as the daughter of Manawaka's only merchant, the rebellious spirit that led her to a miserable life as a farm wife, and the devastating death of her favourite child. When her son threatens to put her into a home, she takes matters into her own hands and seeks refuge in an abandoned canning factory. Hagar might be an irascible, vicious, and even vulgar old woman, but her feisty resilience makes her one of the most remarkable and appealing characters in Canadian literature. Laurence's first Manawaka novel, with its unforgettable portrait of old age, brilliantly sets the scene for the next books in the series.

Canada Day Release Challenge - Books are being released across Canada to celebrate Canada's birthday and Canadian authors.
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I thoroughly enjoyed this book - Laurence deftly moves between present and past as she tells the tale of Hagar Shipley, an old woman dreading the day she may be forced into a nursing home while recounting the days of her youth. Full of memory, hardships, love, loss, courage, anger... a fine story of a long life that also made me further appreciate the feelings of the seniors in my life.

Thoroughly recommended.

I will leave the book in the West Jet terminal... safe travels, Stone Angel!

I found this book in the lost and found at the airport. I will release the again.

Release near Starbucks in the WestJet departures hall