About Mary Lawson

Author: Mary Lawson                                                  Title: Crow Lake

Brief Background

Mary Lawson was born in southwestern Ontario in 1946, but grew up in Blackwell, Ontario. She became an industrial psychologist after taking a trip to Britain. She then married a British psychologist and spent their summers in the north. This is where most of the setting in Crow Lake occurs. Mary Lawson has received six awards for her two novels, Crow Lake and The Other Side of the Bridge. Lawson has lived in Britain since 1968. She married a British psychologist and raised two songs. Her novels are both set in northern Ontario, because this is where she spent many of her childhood summers. The stillness and majestic landscape left a major impression on her. Crow Lake took more than five years of writing. Lawson was confident and satisfied with what she wrought, so she sent it off to publishers. For the next three years, Lawson collected rejection notices, then an agent took an interest in the book which caused a bidding war among seven other publishers.  Lawson is a strong believer in the strength of the influences we receive as children, this is a major theme explored throughout the novel. Her parents got sick with cancer so she spent a lot of time in Canada. She started writing Crow Lake shortly after the death of both of her parents, and her sons leaving home. This is a major influence on Lawson's story line in Crow Lake.