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When the vibrant, imaginative child Mary Immaculate is lost in the forest in the dead of winter, all hope seems lost. But her dramatic rescue by a young doctor leads to a new life in the city of St. John's where she is installed in the home of a family devastated by war-time tragedy. Part coming-of-age story, part romance, cold pastoral is a document of a post-war community searching for direction and a testament to the power of imagination. Margaret Duley was the first Newfoundland novelist to receive international recognition. Her work-known for its strong female characters, poetic prose, illuminating dialogue, and penetrating wit-was published abroad and praised in The New York Times and The Times (London). Now, after years of waiting, cold pastoral is finally available to a new generation of readers.
About the author
Margaret Duley was born in 1894 in St. John's, Newfoundland and died in 1968. Her novels evoke the life of Newfoundland's coasts and are marked by strong female characters and, often, ghoulish humour. Duley is regarded as a precursor to modern ferminist writers. She received international recognition for her four novels, of which Cold Pastoral, first published in 1939, was the second.
