Cold Pastoral

by Margaret Duley

Mary Immaculate is just twelve years old the day she goes missing. Berry-picking in the woods near her village in outport Newfoundland, Mary has an encounter with something from another world. When she is finally found, Mary is taken to hospital in St. John’s, where her attending doctor makes the decision to adopt her out of poverty. Duley’s authentic portrayal of outport life sits in stark contrast to life in upper-level St. John’s, making this a novel as much about class distinction as it is a stunning narrative of a woman’s life in pre-Confederation Newfoundland. Originally published in 1939 to acclaim in Britain and the US, Cold Pastoral was the second novel by Margaret Duley, the acknowledged “first novelist” from Newfoundland.

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.

Genres: Canada, Historical Fiction

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1939

Reviews

[David]

The big thing for me with this novel was how engaging I found the protagonist. No matter what I like or dislike I wanted things to turn out well for her. There are all sorts of views concerning whether or not the novel's components are strengths or weaknesses. I'd rather wish it hadn't ended the way it did, but I recognize at once that my wishing it hadn't been so comes from the critical perspective I was surrounded by 50 years after it was written, and that the protagonist's mental state as reported in the final paragraph is actually very good. As it has been throughout the novel, one just has to decide whether or not one believes in that mental state. There's a lot of tension in class, geography, culture, gender, education, etc. throughout the book. Sometimes it feels like a Romance. Sometimes it feels like Modernism. Sometimes it feels like a Feminist prototype.

[Maggie BB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this. I felt like it was Newfoundland's answer to Anne of Green Gables. You have a young, imaginative girl who has spent more time alone with trees than with other children brought to a new life where she doesn't quite belong. They think they are helping her, but she helps them just as much if not more.
But the similarities are really very superficial. Cold Pastoral is much darker. Mary Immaculate is more even tempered, more naive, and more passionate.. and the people around her are worlds different than the people around Anne.

It's an absolutely captivating story. The glimpse into life in Newfoundland between the world wars is intriguing, the coming of age aspect is thrilling. I found the ending to be a bit abrupt, but it kind of fits with the whirlwind of drama that was Mary Immaculate's life to that point.

[David Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Margaret Duley - what a find! Thank you Lisa Clarke. One of the mahy great things that can happen when one reads an author one has never heard of is that the book far exceeds expectations. But then again, why were my expectations not as high as they should have been? Margaret Duley is after all a Newfoundland woman, and anybody who knows Newfoundland women know that they punch way above their weight and can be counted on to deliver the unexpected. I'll have to wait until the borders reopen in South Africa to find my next Margaret Duley. I've met more than one Mary Immaculate on that Rock.

[Stephen Ring · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margaret Duley is a early Newdfoundland author who has had little notoriety but is considered one of the first Newfoundland authors to have been recognized internationally, despite a small output of work before her death in 1968.

Interesting character study and coming-of-age novel, complete with elements of feminism and women's issues in a man's world.