Product Description

When Ethel Wilson published her first novel, Hetty Dorval, she was in her sixtieth year. With her subsequent books, among them the widely read Swamp Angel (1954), she established herself as one of Canada's most important writers. Although she fostered a reputation for being an unambitious latecomer, a happily married doctor's wife who wrote for her own pleasure, she in fact took her writing very seriously, trying for several years to place her work with major American publishers.

David Stouck's engaging biography of this elusive Canadian writer draws on archival material and interviews to describe, in detail, her early life as an orphan in England and Vancouver and her long writer's apprenticeship, spanning from the publication of some children's stories in 1919 to the appearance of Hetty Dorval in 1947. Stouck's narrative charts the resistance among publishers, critics, and readers to the curious mixture in her work of an Edwardian sensibility and a postmodern intelligence. He also documents her own resistance to both literary nationalism and creative writing classes as strategies for promoting literature. She was nevertheless one of the few Canadian women writers to emerge from the 1950s, and she is still being read ? all her books remaining in print.Stouck observes that Wilson's writing is marked by epistemological and ethical uncertainties that are rooted in the contingencies of language, because, as Wilson herself liked to quote from Lewis Carroll, the 'meaning [of words depends on who is the master.' Ethel Wilson: A Critical Biography is the story of a distinguished writer whose works are rightly considered classics of Canadian literature.

Customer Reviews (1)

prominent Canadian writer
In some literary circles Ethel Wilson is considered one of Canada's finest writers of the 20th century. This book is well suited to those who have already read her major works. Stouck demonstrates detailed research, by furnishing a comprehensive account of her life. Placing her experiences and her novels in a joint context.

The account also illustrates the Canadian publishing scene of that time, and the intellectual and literary circles in which Wilson moved.

Sadly, her books never really achieved mass acclaim, as Stouck makes clear. Her death was barely covered in Canadian newspapers. ... Read more

Product Description
Walking out on a demoralizing second marriage, Maggie Lloyd leaves Vancouver to work at a fishing lodge in the interior of British Columbia. But the serenity of Maggie’s new surroundings is soon disturbed by the irrational jealousy of the lodge-keeper’s wife. Restoring her own broken spirit, Maggie must also become a healer to others. In this, she is supported by her eccentric friend, Nell Severance, whose pearl-handled revolver – the Swamp Angel – becomes Maggie’s ambiguous talisman and the novel’s symbolic core.

Ethel Wilson’s best-loved novel, Swamp Angel first appeared in 1954. It remains an astute and powerful study of one woman’s integrity and of the redemptive power of compassion. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Flyfishing as Life
One of the most remarkable books I have ever read. It was recommended to me as a transplanted Maritimer, a fly fisher and fly tier, all of which the heroine also is. For a book of its era it is amazingly modern in many of its sentiments. Others reviews here have delved into the storyline and potential meanings of events; I simply encourage the reader to enjoy Wilson's lyrical descriptions of flyfishing the beautiful rivers of BC, such as the Similkameen, and the heroine's enjoyment of a life spent outdoors as part of nature.

Human relationships and interactions
This book was originally published in 1954. It takes place in British Columbia Canada. The main character, Maggie, is living in Vancouver with her 2nd husband Eddie. She is unhappy in the marriage due to "humiliation and anger". She plans for some time to leave her husband and slowly packs away her clothing and other items and hides the bag. One night after dinner while doing dishes she simply walks out the kitchen door and to her new life. She travels to the country and gets a job at a fishing lodge at Three Loon Lake. But jealousy of the fishing lodge's owner threatens to disrupt her new life. Maggie remains in touch with her friend, Nell, in Vancouver. Nell has a sentimental attachment to an old revolver named "Swamp Angel" that she used in her former career as a juggler in a circus. The gun holds a different symbolic meaning for Nell and her daughter.

This book depicts the emotions of everyday people and shows how emotions can not only affect yourself but others around you. Overall the quality of the writing was very good. The book leaves alot of questions unanswered though. ... Read more

Product Description
Ethel Wilson has delighted readers with her art, her humour, and her extraordinarily perceptive eye. She turned out six novels and a book of short stories - all highly acclaimed by famous critics and writers and all written after she reached the age of 49.Mary McAlpine, a close friend of Wilson, has produced a biography that is very personal, humourous, and highly readable. There are many interviews with people who knew her, and excerpts from letters and the author's own conversations with Wilson. The result is a biography that brings to life a fascinating person and re-creates the intriguing and vanished world of Vancouver high society in the first half of this century. ... Read more

Product Description
Ellen Guppy is the reluctant heroine of Ethel Wilson’s final novel, Love and Salt Water. Saddened by a painful childhood, Ellen has adopted a skeptical independence and learned too well to hold her heart in reserve. But, as the novel unfolds, Ellen undergoes something of a sea-change; learning to accept love along with the sorrow that is rarely far from love.

First published in 1956, Love and Salt Water is a mature and, at times, disturbing synthesis of Ethel Wilson’s major themes: the independence of human lives, the strange alchemy of chance, and the healing illumination of love. ... Read more

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Precocious in childhood, irrepressible in old age, Miss Topaz Edgeworth’s singular accomplishment is to live out an entire century in unflagging – and mostly oblivious – optimism. At once outmoded and unconventional, tyrannical and benign, Topaz leads a largely unexamined life. But the magical quality of her consciousness, revealed through stunning narrative technique, makes her into one of the most delightful characters in Canadian literature. Published in 1949, The Innocent Traveller is Ethel Wilson’s most original literary achievement. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The unexamined life worth leading (and reading)
Probably Ethel Wilson's most delightful novel, THE INNOCENT TRAVELLER began as a series of short stories about Wilson's own family, with a particular interest in her silly, attention-starved, irrepressible great-aunt; Wilson's publisher insisted she turn the stories into a novel, and this charming one-of-a-kind piece was the result. Topaz is born to a wealthy Victorian family in the Five Towns, and lives an extremely protected life free from much harm or much meaning. What saves her ultimately is her own essential triviality, which allows her to live through a century on two continents with her sense of wonder always about her. The description of Topaz's first cross-continental train trip from the St. Lawrence river to Vancouver is a remarkable set piece, and displays beautifully Wilson's famous skills at evoking landscape and atmosphere. I was so happy to have discovered this little gem--it's not quite like anything else I've ever read.

The Innocent Traveller is a pleasant find!
I've only recently been introduced to Ethel Wilson's work, and I'm surprised I didn't find out about her sooner!

The Innocent Traveller takes place during the mid 1800's until the mid 1900's. We follow along the vibrant, happy-go-lucky Topaz Edgeworth, from when she's a curious young toddler sitting at the dinner table in Ware, England, until she's an old, fragile lady talking nonstop, living well beyond her years. We watch her grow up, losing her mother, losing siblings and other family, falling in and out of love, going to school, travelling across the Atlantic, arriving in Canada, and crossing Canada by train until she finally arrives in Vancouver at the turn of the century to live for the next few decades of her life. But her stories don't just stop there!

We also learn the most about Topaz as a person. We're exposed to her vibrant personality, her optimistic attitudes, and her originality that truly stood her apart from any other person during that time period.

Ethel Wilson quotes, "This is the story - part truth and part invention - of a lively woman who lived for a hundred years and died triumphant in Vancouver and is nearly forgotten after all her commotion of living".

One gem about this book is that Ethel Wilson based it on the life of her Aunt. And at times, I'm sure she's basing the story on her own experiences while travelling across Canada and living in Vancouver. Because of this, all the geographical settings described in The Innocent Traveller are fact. Stanley Park, Hastings Street, Joe Fortes, English Bay, the mountains, etc. I was instantly transported into the era when Vancouver was a young city. The story creates a living world so familiar, yet so different to me, but it's something thrilling that I couldn't get just by looking at old city photographs.

While reading this book, keep in mind that you are following a journey of a life. Don't expect the standard conflict, climax, conclusion plot. While I wouldn't recommend this book to just anybody, I think the people who would appreciate it the most would have to be patient enough to take the book as it is - the complete 100 year history of an amazing bubbly character we know as Topaz Edgeworth. ... Read more

Product Description
Seeking refuge from her mysterious past, the beautiful Mrs. Dorval arrives in a small British Columbia town at the confluence of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers. As Frankie Burnaby, the young schoolgirl Mrs. Dorval befriends, pieces together Hetty’s story, she begins to realize that her enigmatic idol is also a treacherous opponent.

Hetty Dorval, Wilson’s first novel, is a wise and expertly crafted tale of innocence and experience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Magical novella about smashing your own idols
Ethel Wilson's first work is well worth reading if only for her exquisitely crafted prose; she is clearly one of the finest and most influential Canadian writers of the twentieth century. Her clear influence on Alice Munro is incredibly marked, and indeed HETTY DORVAL (like much of Wilson's other work) would fit beautifully right into a current issue of the NEW YORKER. In this coming-of-age novella, the heroine meets as a girl the beautiful and wealthy Hetty Dorval, who lives in her small British Columbian town under a cloud of gossip and suspicion. As the years pass, her encounters with Hetty multiply in different cities and continents, and she begins to realize that Hetty is much more than she claims to be. This is clearly a first work, and some of the scenes in the text (particularly near the end, with the revelation scene and the unlikely scene of Hetty spending the night in the heroine's bed) seem poorly thought through. But the famous closing sentences of the work show Wilson's larger ideational framework brilliantly, posing the question as to what finally really matters in the end when mere human corruption and fallibility is compared to genuine evil. The singular atmosphere of the tale--its lovely evocation of North American wilderness viewed through a wealthy class-conscious sensibility--also makes it a splendid work. This is a fine first work by a major writer, and deserves to be read in other countries besides its own.

Pure Fluff
This is one of the most bewildering stories I've ever read. There is virtually no plot; the build-up of suspense over the "treacherous" Mrs. Dorval amounts to nothing more than rumour and gossip. Absolutely nothing happens! The book ends so abruptly that I thought someone had torn out the final chapters. ... Read more

Product Description
In the late 1800s, newlyweds Jasper and Beatrice Gordon leave rural South Georgia to start a life in the capital of the New SouthCAtlanta. They start businesses that provide them solid footing in the emerging black upper middle class. The Gordons reach back into their home community and bring a young, trouble-bound relative into their family as a caregiver for their children. Though enmeshed in the family, Nellie never grows beyond the language and attitude of rural Georgia. The Gordons' two children forge lives as divergent as their parents, as one crosses the color line to marry and the other a cultural one to choose a mate. This saga continues to unfold when the unwed granddaughter, Missy, becomes pregnant during the 1940s, and the family has to make decisions to remedy an embarrassing situation. The full import of these decisions culminates during a summer in the mid-1960s when two adult adoptive children bond to resolve and confront issues surrounding their births and adoptions. Secrets Begging to Be Told gives a brief look at the culture of color and class in the first half of the twentieth century as well as ways in which this family deals with the phenomenon. It further depicts the generational dynamics of this family as it relates to handling crises. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Whole Host of Great Reviews!!







One of the best books I have read
Maura
Georgia/USA(9/14/2005)I absolutely loved the book. The story was so plausible, the author took great pains to set up the characters and their stories so that it was very realistic historically. I believe it really captured the hopes and dreams of a people newly freed from slavery and how the educated, wealthy class developed. I loved the 2 characters that moved to Atlanta the matriacrch and patriarch of the family.I loved the scenes where they were so delighted by Nellie, the nanny/house servant. She really was the glue that would hold that family together. I apologize if I have her name wrong. I loved her speech and her spunkiness. I loved the tenderness with which all of the family regarded her. The initial matriarch and patriarch that moved to Atlanta and started the restaurant fully embraced Nellie, they loved her, they loved their ancestry and heritage and were not ashamed of it. The scene where the matriarch shows Nellie how to take care of her hair was so affirming and touching to me personally. I could not put the book down.


My Other Traveling Companion--this book!
Fran
Brooklyn, NY(USA)(9/12/2005)I really enjoyed reading the book on my train ride from California to NY. Since I once lived in Atlanta, it was particularly interesting to me to look at the interpretation of the early development of the Black businesses as they were connected to the colleges. The characters were so well developed thatI felt I knew some of them well enough to predict their behavior and decisions.

Wow! What A Book!
Shay
Staten Island, NY, USA(9/8/2005)Wow! What a book. It is a great story that is captivating and soul searching. And to have Soperton and other familiar locations mentioned, puts one right on the scene. Now Ettie, tell me that you did not know that my father's father was named Lucious? I can't wait to read the sequel. As I know, there are many "Secrets Begging to Be Told" by Ethel "Ettie" Cook-Wilson. I'm giving them out for Christmas. Please send one to the Oprah Book Club.

Secrets Begging to be Told
Ella
California, USA(9/6/2005)This book was exciting, "can't put it down". Each character had a unique personality that allowed you to imagine how each could take on their own life in the sequel.


''You Can't Put it Down''
Joan Greig
Atlanta Georgia(8/22/2005)"Secrets Begging to be Told" is a wonderful book that you can't put down until you finish. The author skillfully covers the lives of several generations in a smooth and engaging narrative. It is fiction that is so reminiscent of "real life". We all have intriguing secrets in our family, and we can relate. It also accurately depicts the racial politics of African-Americans and the way we separate ourselves from each other based on skin-color, economic background, etc. It's a fast read, with vivid depictions of people, specific time-periods, and the coincidences of life that we all experience. It also gives us a real view of life in Atlanta, Georgia, the beaches in Florida, giving us glimpses of lifestyles at various economic levels. Highly recommended for all people with mixed heritage (and aren't we all mixed) and an interest in being reminded of the flavor of a life in another (very recent) space and time.


Secrets Begging to Be Told
Sonja
California, USA(8/21/2005)A great book -- the reader will really want to have these secrets told before putting the book down! I also like the "Study Questions" in the back of the book. It makes the reader pay attention to details, and he/she can use his/her own opinion of the characters. Thank you, Ettie, for some great work. I really enjoyed reading the book. (Les phrases en français aussi -- et Roger... -- mais bien sûr!) SOURIRE Merci de Sonja


... Read more

Product Description
In the two novellas that make up The Equations of Love, Ethel Wilson describes ordinary people in perilous circumstances with extraordinary insight and compassion. “Tuesday and Wednesday” reconstructs the events of two days in the life of Mort and Myrtle Johnson, whose uninspired marriage is strangely transformed by the tragic intervention of fate. “Lilly’s Story” is the study of a woman who, protecting her daughter, invents a new identity for herself, only to live as a fugitive from her own happiness.

Fist published in 1952, these intuitive and richly ironic stories reveal the unspoken longings and surprising motives that balance the equations of love. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

WhatWonderful Stories!!
Speaking of a good book, I savored Table Scraps and Pot Liquor....What wonderful stories.I love the art of collage and relate to the stories as bits and pieces, scraps of living that tell the essence of a person.I loved reading the layers as each person is revealed.Cook-Wilson has joined the ranks as one of my favorite authors! ... Read more

Product Description
Woodrow Wilson's presidency marked a seminal period in American history. Wilson's progressive reforms laid the foundation for FDR's New Deal and ushered the nation into its modern era. In foreign policy, his philosophy and the programs he implemented have influenced the United States' relationship with the rest of the world throughout the 20th-century. An extremely controversial president in his time, Wilson has grown in stature in the intervening years, though some remain critical of the direction in which he steered the United States. Complementing the 69-volume Papers of Woodrow Wilson, this book provides a comprehensive guide to the secondary literature on Wilson. ... Read more

Product Description
The eighteen pieces collected in Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories bring together the many and subtle voices of Ethel Wilson, demonstrating her extraordinary range as a writer. From the gentle mockery of the title story to the absurdist reportage of “Mr. Sleepwalker,” Wilson exerts unerring narrative control. Revealing what is “simple and complicated and timeless” in everyday life, these stories also venture into irrational realms of experience where chance encounters assume a malevolent form and coincidence transmuted into nightmare.

First published in 1961, Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories is a diverse and rewarding collection, unified by Ethel Wilson’s distinct and engaging wit. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from American Review of Canadian Studies, published by Association for Canadian Studies in the United States on December 22, 1998. The length of the article is 552 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Self beyond self: Ethel Wilson and Indian philosophical thought.
Publication: American Review of Canadian Studies (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 1998
Publisher: Association for Canadian Studies in the United States
Volume: 28Issue: 4Page: 571-2

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

swamp angel
swamp angel is a very good book I found. It depicts the surrounding around the main character maggie as she starts a new life. Maggie leaves her 2nd husband one day after cooking dinner and take off into the counrty . Maggie gets a jog a 3 loon lake and keeps in touch wiht her best friend neil. Neil has a gun called the swamp angel that she had whil in the circus. ... Read more