Crow Lake

by Mary Lawson (Author)

• Used

  Hardcover
  2002

  $12.00

  Here is a gorgeous, slowburning story set in the rural 'badlands' of Northern Ontario, where tragedy and hardship are mirrored in the landscape, and even laying too much store by education can be subtly dangerous. For the farming Pye family, life is a Greek tragedy where the sins of the fathers are visited on the sons, and hideous events occur - offstage. Centrestage, are the Morrisons whose tragedy looks more immediate if less brutal, but is in reality insidious and divisive. Orphaned young, Kate Morrison, was her older brother Matt's protege, her fascination for pondlife fed by his passionate interest in the natural world. Now a zoologist she can identify organisms under a microscope, but seems blind to the tragedy of her own emotional life. And she thinks she's outgrown her family - Luke, Matt and Bo, who were once her entire world. In this universal drama of family love and misunderstandings, of resentments harboured and driven underground, Lawson ratchets up the tension, paying out her story with heartbreaking humour and consummate control, so as to overturn one's expectations right to the end. Tragic, funny, unforgettable - a quiet masterpiece that deserves to be bestseller.

• Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $4.20

  Crow Lake is that rare find, a first novel so quietly assured, so compelling, and with an emotional charge so perfectly controlled, that you sense at once that this is the real thing - a literary experience to relish, a book to lose yourself in, and a name to watch. Here is a gorgeous, slowburning story of families growing up and tearing each other apart in rural Northern Ontario, where tragedy and hardship are mirrored in the landscape. Centre stage are the Morrisons whose tragedy is insidious and divisive. Orphaned young, Kate Morrison was her older brother Matt's protegee, her curious fascination for pond-life fed by his passionate interest in the natural world. Now a zoologist, she can identify organisms under a microscope, but seems blind to the tragedy of her own emotional life. She thinks she's outgrown her family, who were once her entire world - but she can't seem to outgrow her childhood or lighten the weight of their mutual past.

• New

  Paperback
  2003

  $11.69

  Crow Lake is that rare find, a first novel so quietly assured, so compelling, and with an emotional charge so perfectly controlled, that you sense at once that this is the real thing - a literary experience to relish, a book to lose yourself in, and a name to watch. Here is a gorgeous, slowburning story of families growing up and tearing each other apart in rural Northern Ontario, where tragedy and hardship are mirrored in the landscape. Centre stage are the Morrisons whose tragedy is insidious and divisive. Orphaned young, Kate Morrison was her older brother Matt's protegee, her curious fascination for pond-life fed by his passionate interest in the natural world. Now a zoologist, she can identify organisms under a microscope, but seems blind to the tragedy of her own emotional life. She thinks she's outgrown her family, who were once her entire world - but she can't seem to outgrow her childhood or lighten the weight of their mutual past.