Read more
***2022 BMO WINTERSET AWARD - WINNER***
The Raw Light of Morning is a powerful debut novel about women and children finding humour and love in the aftermath of domestic violence. Fourteen-year-old Laurel Long does something unimaginable. In a house at the back end of Woods Road, she commits an act of violence that alters the course of her life. Laurel finds herself living in Stephenville, a small town on Newfoundland's west coast, trapped in a system of poverty and generational neglect, haunted by trauma. Laurel needs a fresh start, and education is her ticket out, but when her past starts to catch up with her, she must decide how far she will go to protect herself and the ones she loves.
About the author
Shelly Kawaja's writing has appeared in several journals and literary magazines, such as the Humber Literary Review, the Dalhousie Review, Postcolonial Text, and PACE. Her short story "Shotgun" won the gritLit 2020 fiction contest. Shelly is a graduate of Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Humber School for Writers and is a current MFA candidate in the creative writing program at the University of British Columbia. She lives in Corner Brook with her family.
