#ThrowbackThursday. Mary Lawson's first books

 

I have read all of Mary Lawson's books to date and today I will present you the two first ones that I read more than ten years ago.

Lawson, Mary "Crow Lake" - 2002

I've read this book at least three times, the first time when I borrowed it, the second time when we read it in the international book club and then again with my German book club. I really, really loved this novel.

This is the story of a girl who is raised by her two older brothers and it describes the struggle they go through on their way to adulthood. The book combines everything, tragedy, drama, love story, sacrifices, the "togetherness" of a small community. The characters are well written, and so are the episodes.

We discussed this in our international book club in March 2004 and in my German book club in March 2023.

Lawson, Mary "The Other Side of the Bridge" - 2006

I loved this just as much as Crow Lake.

The biggest topic of the book was the sibling rivalry, two brothers growing up on a farm in Canada in the 1930s, the mother favouring the younger son for various reasons. Then there is the generational conflict, the change of time, farm work now and then, modernization, parents' expectations in their children, small town life, prisoners of war, lots of different issues.

We discussed this in our international book club in September 2008.

You can find the subsequent novels by Mary Lawson here.

Read my original reviews here and here.