Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence
For this first episode of 2024 we are joined by the chair of Virago Press, Lennie Goodings to discuss a novel by her fellow Canadian, Margaret Laurence. First published in 1964,\xa0The Stone Angel\xa0is a landmark in modern Canadian fiction. The narrator is the unforgettable Hagar Shipley, a spiky, sharp-tongued, proud and profane ninety-year-old who is trying to resist her family\u2019s attempts to transfer her into a nursing home. This battle is interwoven with memories of her long and difficult life, much of it spent in the Manitoban prairie town of Manawaka, a place closely based on Laurence\u2019s own home town of Neepawa and which would provide the setting for three more novels and a collection of stories. We discuss the book\u2019s place in the Canadian pantheon and speculate on why it hasn\u2019t become and established classic outside Canada (it is no longer in print with Virago). We also discover some unexpected coincidences among Margaret Laurence\u2019s neighbours during the years she lived in England in the late sixties and early seventies. This is a book that deserves to find many more new readers.\n* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at\xa0uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted\xa0where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.\n* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit\xa0www.backlisted.fm\n*If you'd like to support the show and join in with the book chat, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at\xa0www.patreon.com/backlisted\n*You can sign up to our free monthly newsletter here http://bit.ly/backlistednewsletter\n\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices