Both her parents died of polio when she was young, and she was taken from her comfortable upper-middle-class home to a poor foster family in Manawaka. In the next section, “The Nuisance Grounds,” the narrative flashes back to Morag’s early years. Morag searches her house for photographs from her childhood, ones she has treated carelessly over the years but has never been able to throw away. The note unlocks Morag’s own memories of when she was Pique’s age and headed East from her Manitoba hometown, looking for her own identity. She has left a note behind asking her mother not to worry or “get uptight.” Pique, who is Metis, of mixed First Nations ancestry, has headed West in search of her roots. The novel opens with a section titled “River of Now and Then.” Morag, 47, wakes up in her Ontario log cabin to discover her 18-year-old daughter, Pique, is gone. In 1972, Laurence was made a Companion of the Order of Canada. The Diviners is the fifth book in her “Manawaka” series of books set in or around the fictional town, including The Stone Angel and A Jest of God.

Laurence is considered one of Canada’s greatest writers. The semi-autobiographical narrative follows the life and memories of Morag Gunn, a writer and single mother who grew up in Manawaka, Manitoba, and her struggle to understand and accept her identity. The Diviners is a 1974 kunstlerroman, or novel about the writing of a novel, by Canadian author Margaret Laurence.

Libba bray the diviners series