The Diviners

Manawaka Sequence

by Margaret Laurence

Morag Gunn, a middle aged writer who lives in a farmhouse on the Canadian prairie, struggles to understand the loneliness of her eighteen-year-old daughter. With unusual wit and depth, Morag recognizes that she needs solitude and work as much as she needs the love of her family.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Classics, Canadian Literature, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Novels

Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Canada's classic authoress was born Jean Margaret Wemyss on July 18, 1926 in the prairie town of Neepawa, Manitoba, Canada. Her Mom, Verna, passed away early. Her Aunt Margaret helped her Father take care of her for a year, then they married and had a Son. Their Father died two years afterwards. Aunt Margaret was a Mother to her, raising the kids in theirr maternal Grandfather's home.

Margaret wrote stories in elementary school. Her professional writing career began in 1943 with a job at the town newspaper and continued in 1944, when she entered the Honours English program at Winnipeg's United College (University Of Winnipeg.) After graduating in 1947, she was hired as a reporter for The Winnipeg Citizen. That year, she married Jack Laurence, a civil engineer.

Jack's profession took the couple to England, Somalia, and eventually Ghana, where Margaret gained an appreciation for Africa and the storytelling traditions of its peoples. It was in Africa that their children, Jocelyn and David, were born, and when Margaret began to work seriously on her writing. Her book of essays about and translations of Somali poetry and prose was published in 1954 as A Tree for Poverty. A collection of short stories, The Tomorrow-Tamer, as well as a novel, This Side Jordan (both focusing on African subjects) were published after Margaret returned home to Canada. Her fiction was thereafter concerned with Canadian subjects, but she maintained her interest in African literature and in 1968 published a critical analysis of Nigerian literature, Long Drums and Cannons: Nigerian Dramatists and Novelists 1952-1966. Present in her African works is a concern with the ethical dilemma of being a white colonialist living in colonial Africa.

In 1957, Margaret and her family moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, for five years. In 1962, Margaret & Jack divorced. She moved to London, England for a year, followed by a cottage in Buckinghamshire for ten years, although she visited Canada often. During this period, Margaret wrote her first works with Canadian subject matter.

"The Stone Angel" was published in 1964, and was the first of her "Manawaka novels", the fictional prairie community modelled after her hometown of Neepawa, Manitoba. It was followed by "A Jest Of God" in 1966 (for which she won her first Governor General's Award,) "The Fire-Dwellers" in 1969, and "A Bird In The House" in 1970. Margaret received critical and commercial acclaim in Canada and in 1971, was honoured by being named a Companion to the Order of Canada.

In the early 1970s, she returned to Canada and settled in Lakefield, Ontario. She continued to write and was writer-in-residence at the University Of Toronto, the University Of Western Ontario, and Trent University. In 1974, Margaret completed her final novel, "The Diviners", for which she received the Governor General's Award and the Molson Prize. It was followed by a book of essays, Heart Of A Stranger" in 1976 and several children's books: "Jason's Quest", "The Olden-Days Coat", "Six Darn Cows", and "The Christmas Birthday Story". Her autobiography "Dance On The Earth" was published in 1987.

Margaret died on January 5, 1987 at her home in Lakefield, after learning her lung cancer diagnosis was terminal. She is buried in Neepawa Cemetery, a few metres from the stone angel which inspired her novel.

Reviews

[Andy Marr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm speechless. Wordless. This book was incredible. I think it might be one of the best I've ever read. Too early to tell, of course, but I have a feeling that it will hold a special place in my heart for years to come.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some things that enrich my life beyond all expectation or proportion: baths, bike rides, sex, and let me say it now: Margaret Laurence. I’ve long suspected she might be my favourite author (despite my discomfort with A Jest of God, I loved the book; The Stone Angel is near perfect in its characterization of Hagar), but on (re)reading The Diviners I’m ready to settle the matter: Margaret Laurence is my favourite.

I don’t mean to suggest she’s the best author out there (let’s leave conversations of ‘best’ to another day), but when reading her books I feel uncanny feelings. I feel like maybe my fears and hopes and expectations for life have been somehow borrowed from a Laurence novel; put another way, I wonder whether Laurence doesn’t anticipate and - perfectly - describe my feelings through her beautiful and flawed protagonists.

You’re thinking, yes, but in A Jest of God, Rachel is nothing but a simpering pathetic woman who longs for sexual realization, freedom and above all the “strength of conviction,” and in The Diviners Morag seems to embody this very strength (often describing her own strength, vivid in her eyes, and making difficult decisions that no doubt call upon this certain kind of strength). I do wonder though whether Morag’s strength isn’t a kind of yearning too, a recognition of “what means ‘strength of conviction’” and a realization that she doesn’t quite have it (though Christie does, and Jules, too). Maybe I most identify with and admire this yearning, and this imitable belief that you might - but haven’t yet - take what you believe you deserve, or brave enough to be the person you believe yourself to be. Admire yes, but find heart-breaking, too. The recognition that sometimes/often women do not find the strength of their conviction, do not find their strength at all. So when I find myself crying (sobbing) at the end of another Laurence novel, I say thanks to Laurence: thanks for recognizing in me (and presumably in countless others) the yearning and the nascent strength and for giving us characters who both do and do not meet their own expectations.

(If you haven’t yet read anything by Laurence I demand that you go out and do so now. Even if you are not a young woman. Or an artist. Or a mother or father. Or a… She’ll still shine a light into your soul, heart, mind , a light into you. Read. Oh, read.)

[Susan's Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this rather racy book by Margaret Laurence. The book focuses on the life and loves of Morag Gunn, a fiercely independent young woman who scratches her way out of dire poverty, manages to go to university, marry one of her professors, then have an affair and a child with her childhood friend Jules Tonnerre, who was a Metis Indian. Our disgraceful treatment of Canada's indigenous peoples is one of the many themes in this beautifully written novel.
But what I remember most about this excellent novel is a comment about one of the sex scenes in this story, made by one of my teachers during a "closeted" sex education class. She declared that Margaret Laurence couldn't have had very much sexual experience, because "that scene" in the novel couldn't possibly have happened "that way" because..... ! Well, years later, I wanted to contact that teacher and tell her she was completely mistaken, and that SHE (the teacher) was the one who'd had limited experience!
I still chuckle when I remember THAT gaff!
But this is a fabulous book: one that I will reread from time to time, because it is a wonderful blast from my past.

[Diane Barnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

After finishing the fifth and last of these Manawaka novels by Laurence, I am in awe of her talent. I can see why she is so revered in Canada. The scope of this series is historic and personal, yet relatable as well. This one mentions some of the characters in the other books and gives us a new way of considering their stories as well.

Morag Gunn grows up on the wrong side of the tracks, raised by a friend of her father after both of her parents die within days of each other when she is four. She spends her childhood and youth wanting one thing....to escape Manawaka and make something of herself. She achieves this, making mistakes along the way as everyone does when they're young, but eventually becoming an author, making friends, raising a daughter alone, and becoming an independent person.

The beauty of this novel, for me, was Morag's changing perceptions and understanding of past events as she ages. The handling of memories and journeys into the past was handled masterfully, and was juxtaposed with her 18 year old daughter's own need to get away and begin her separate life of mistakes and maturity.

What Morag comes to see is that it's not possible to escape your childhood, because it's inside and you carry it with you. It is instrumental in making you who you eventually become.

I am so sorry to be finished with this series. I'll miss these people, and Manawaka, and Margaret Laurence.

"Look ahead into the past, and back into the future, until the silence."

[Carolina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't been much of a fan of Margaret Laurence's work in the past, mainly because I found many of her characters a little on the whiny side. And if there's one thing I refuse to do is spend substantial amounts of time with a whiner. But the fact is, Morag Gunn, heroine of The Diviners, grabbed me. Barring the brief period she spent spineless and married to the good professor, Morag's got balls. A lot of self-doubt inner-talk (who doesn't?) and balls. And, importantly, in a way that doesn't deprive any of her male counterparts of theirs. A number of big issues are tackled in this book but tackled gracefully, in the context of story and not for mere didactic purposes, and in a way that leaves you with more questions than before and grateful for it. Laurence is clearly a prose master and if she were alive today, I'd send her a strongly-worded letter saying so (leaving out the bits about me thinking Rachel Cameron and Stacy MacAindra were whiners). I laughed (out loud), I cried (out loud), I paused to stare into the middle distance while savouring a particularly astute observation or turn of phrase, I stayed up until 3:30 am to finish. A good thing to experience, this. A human thing.

[K.D. Absolutely · Rating 4 out of 5]

Feminist. Very strong female character in the person of Morag Gunn. Orphan at the age of four, she was taken into custody by the couple Christie and Prin Logan. Christie is the town's scavenger (garbage collector) and divining is scavenging. But don't get the notion that the female characters here are scavengers or loser. Morag rose from that sorry early years and made own life-altering decisions in her life so strong that she seems to have the biggest ball among the characters including her good-for-nothing professor-husband and even her subsequent lovers.

The most interesting part of this book for me is the first 50 pages. In the opening scene, Morag finds a note from her 18-y/o daughter Pique who has just left home to join her boyfriend and go to Morag's childhood town of Manakawa (a town in Canada. You see, Margaret Laurence was a Canadian). That note, plus the photographs that Morag keeps in the house trigger the memories of her past. This was followed later by a series of memory banks in her mind. For me, the use of those tools was so effective in telling Morag's back stories: short and succinct. Like patches or glimpses of the whole thing but enough for the reader to get the idea of who was the 47-y/o present-day Morag when she was young.

The reading is easy. The prose is engaging. The plot has enough interesting twists to keep you going. Laurence is also very effective in showing rather than telling. I have not been to Canada and my sister lives in Winnipeg for two decades now. So, while reading I was imagining the surroundings although I know that this was written in the 70's and things should have surely changed. Oh I just miss my sister and should visit her someday probably when I finally retire from my corporate job.

But if you decide to read this book, it is because you like strong female characters. For me this brought back for me the strong fictional characters of Jane Eyre, Helen Graham and Janie Crawford. Strong female creations of strong female authors.

The novel is old but its theme (feminist) and message (pro-choice: women have the right to decide what to do with their lives) still very much ring true today.

[Antoinette · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars.

The Diviner’s is the story of Morag Gunn. We first meet her when she is 47 years old. She is a writer and is in the process of writing a novel, but thoughts of her daughter, Pique, keep intruding. Pique is 18 years old and has taken off to explore the west ( in Canada). As Morag worries about Pique, she starts reflecting back on her own history.
Morag grew up in Manawaka, Manitoba. Her parents died when she was 5 and an army friend of her father’s , Christie Logan and his wife Prin ( short for Princess), took her in. The time is post Depression; the Logan’s are poor; Morag is ostracized. Her one goal is to get out of this place!
We follow her through the years through to the 1970’s

This book is about relationships- mother/ daughter, family relationships, love relationships, relationships with nature and for Morag - relationship with her writing.
In regards her writing, she wrote:

“ She had been working through the day, the words not having to be dredged up out of the caves of the mind, but rushing out in a spate so that her hand could not keep up with them. “. Amazing, right?

Did I like Morag? I admired her strength and determination, but I wasn’t on board with a few choices she made.

Margaret Laurence has written a “real woman” in Morag- one with flaws as well as strengths. There are some very interesting supporting characters we get to meet. Jules Tonnere is one. Through him we learn about the discrimination towards the Métis. Christie, the stepfather, likes to tell stories of the past. What’s real or not is not 100% certain. Lazarus, Jules’ father, is also a story teller- of their ancestors who fought to keep the land.

“ When she was a young child, she used to believe that everything would be all right once she was grown up and nobody could tell her what to do. Now she wishes someone could tell her what to do.”

I read this book for the first time in the late 1970’s. I’ve always wanted to reread it, and I am so glad I did.

Published: 1974

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Diviners is a divine book written from the point of view of a middle-aged woman, Morag Gunn, looking back over her life and assembling the pieces of the puzzle that can tell her who she is. It is the final book in the Manawaka series, of which I had only read the first, The Stone Angel, and that many, many years ago. I am now resolved to read that one again, and indeed anything I can get my hands on that has been written by Margaret Laurence.

Morag's story begins in tragedy, the death of both her parents when she is but six years of age, and her transfer to the home and care of her father's friend, Christie, and his wife Prin. Christie is the town "scavenger", which is to say the garbage collector, and Morag finds herself in a seedy home on the wrong side of the tracks, but in the care of a good man and woman.

One of the disconcerting aspects of middle age was the realization that most of the crises which happened to other people also ultimately happened to you.

How true those words seemed to me. Perhaps another disconcerting aspect is that the crises that have happened to others are so misunderstood by us until they become our own. In fact, we can seldom see with any clarity when we are very young, because our focus is so naturally on ourselves.

Along with the increased ability to see the lives of others more completely as we, ourselves, age, a major theme of the book is the passing of the torch to the next generation and the difficult knowledge that the doors of opportunity and experience are closing for us while opening for them. There is that mixture of pride and regret, hope and despair, and the conviction that the truth we hold might not be as concrete a thing as we had imagined. What do we do with such information when it comes to us so late in life.

Whatever is happening to Pique isn’t what I think is happening, whatever that may be. What happened to me wasn’t what anyone else thought was happening, and maybe not even what I thought was happening at the time. A popular misconception is that we can’t change the past–everyone is constantly changing their own past, recalling it, revising it. What really happened? A meaningless question. But one I keep trying to answer, knowing there is no answer.

As I read, I understood that I was viewing this easily through Morag’s older eyes and not through those of the younger Morag, of whom we see just as much. I wondered how differently I might have seen and felt this story, had I read it forty years ago, when it was published, but when my own life experience was ahead, rather than behind, me.

Margaret Laurence manages to bring both the younger and older Morag to life with equal strength and gusto. She moves seamlessly through the past and present, so that there is no jarring effect to the transitions. She allows us to understand what the young Morag does not, that life is a quagmire of choices and regrets, and sometimes mistakes that can never be rectified.

In Morag, Margaret Laurence has created a moving and all too human character, who fights for her survival and accepts love, in all its guises, with all its imperfections. She never stops searching or hoping, despite the lessons of life being mostly ones of how to let go.

I would count this as one of my best reads of the year. In places it sliced into my flesh and made me bleed, and in others it administered the balm that heals just such wounds. A terrific author and an unforgettable book.

Look ahead into the past, and back into the future, until the silence.

[Chrissie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A well written book, but one that does not resound with me. The central character is an independent, free-spirited woman and a dedicated author. As are the other two of the Manawaka Sequence, although each very different from the others, it is loosely based on Margaret Laurence’s own life. As such, it is semi-autobiographical fiction. The characters focused upon are different in each novel. In this, Laurence’s last book, feminism and the life, trials and tribulations of a female author and single mother come to the fore. How one is to work one’s way up in this career, how to maintain one’s independence, how to establish a healthy, viable relationship with a daughter as independent, free-spirited and opinionated as oneself are the themes one considers while reading this book.

The story ties Canadian history with questions related to ethnicity and social class. We meet a garbage collector, professors, songwriters and singers, water diviners and those of mixed ethnicities. They are looked down upon by many of the respectable, well off, established class. We read of the Metis people. The book is considered a Canadian classic, at least partially due its focus on Canadian issues related to its people and its history.

The story looks at how the past and the present are interwoven. It has readers thinking about how in our mind’s eye the past may be altered, twisted or revised. History depends on who is doing the remembering. Laurence pulls this off not only through topics discussed but also by how the story is told. Each chapter begins in the present. Morag Gunn tells of her life. She is forty-seven and an acknowledged author. Past events are revealed through flashbacks--looking at photos, “memorybank films” slide into her consciousness. The telling of the story slips back in time. Likewise, we view different places too—the Manitoba prairie lands. Vancouver, Toronto, England, Scotland, India. These jumps in time and place I found confusing sometimes. The book might perhaps be classified as metafiction! I see this more as a minus than a plus. Technique gets in the way of the story.

One final point--consider the title. Water diviners do find water, despite that scientifically we do not understand how this works. Now take the idea of this a step further. Can we divine how to live a better way of life? The book has a diviner, but it also pushes us to consider the bigger question.

Brita Nilzén narrates the audiobook well. The only thing I had trouble with was recognizing names, but this is because Laurence gives the characters unusual names. I guess they are typically Canadian, and I was unfamiliar with them. The narration I have given four stars.

A good book, I would say, particularly from a Canadian perspective. It will appeal to those readers of a strong independent, feministic bent. I am a bit too traditional in how I view marriage. It will also appeal to to-be authors. In addition, the book’s metafictional aspect bothered me.



*****************************

Manawaka Sequence
*A Bird in the House 4 stars
*The Stone Angel 4 stars
*The Diviners 3 stars

[Lark Benobi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have finished this book and I'm so glad I'm done with it. I can tell it's brilliant but at the same time I need to admit to myself that it bored me silly. I just need to throw that out there, this little bit of shameful truth, and to acknowledge my inability to appreciate this great, great book. As I read on from one page to the next I had this constant voice in my head saying things to me like: 'oh, wow, this so very well put,' and: 'oh gosh what a great scene, it really is so lovely, so true, about people coming to terms with one another's foibles, forgiving each other well enough that they can keep loving one another, in spite of their shortcomings,' and yet even as I was thinking all these lovely appreciative thoughts, I was very bored. I'm sorry, dear Canada.

[Mikey B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

About mid-way through I decided that I had had enough. I was not engaged by this novel – most of it at that stage taking place in rural Manitoba and then Winnipeg, with a move to Toronto.

I found the characters were not pulling me into their lives, even the central character Morab. I got tired of reading settings of flowers and willow trees by the Red river. Sometimes the dialogue became trite and boring, more so when Morab swoons and falls head over heels in love with an academic literature professor – this is sprinkled with tedious and scholarly conversations about long dead authors, books and poetry.

When the story settles into the present tense we are faced with repetitious sequences on Morab’s concern of her runaway daughter and her drinking problems. This 500 plus page book could have used some editing; it lacked zest.

[Mookie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book in the back of a Salvation Army and flipped through it. I bought it entirely because I was interested in the sheet music at the back, and I had no intention of actually reading the book. But after reading the lyrics of the songs, I wanted to know who was Lazarus, King of Nothing? Who was Piquette? This book is raw. The characters are flawed. You can't help but absolutely inhale this story as you follow Morag's harsh and bitter and somehow innocent life. The themes and hidden meanings are richly arranged, Bois Brulees, for example, after the burning of Piquette.

It's as if you know the characters, and love them, no matter how flawed they're portrayed. The romantic interest for example, is portrayed with a pot-belly and a sailor's mouth. But you couldn't help fall in love with him alongside Morag. You essentially become the main character, you love her daughter and you want to slap her senseless at the same time.

[Heather(Gibby) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am giving this book a rare 5 star review, partially because I had not expected to like it, and I loved it. If I was a writer, I think my style would be very similar to the writing in this book. I loved the "Memory Bank Movie" passages. It reminded me so much of several significant events in my own life, and I can vividly rember them. I think the characters in the book were depicted very realistically and believable, flaws and all. The book was written in the 1970's and I hope our society has evolved somewhat beyond the cruel and thoughtless way humans can treat each other, but in many ways the challeges and prejudicies depicted in the book are still going on today. As i have lived in manitoba all my life, it was also a hoot to have all the familiar geography of my home province referred to. The book was not preachy at all, but showed some of the very complicated layers of human realtionships in a very compassionate way.

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this 1/2 hour ago with tears streaming. I have only a fragment of an idea of what I think, nor if 5 stars is right. I read her The Stone Angel at least 40 years ago before I moved here, and was very disappointed not to find her shelved in my library. When I picked this up at the library book sale (I think it was), I felt as if it must be a treasure.

This is told in such an interesting manner. Each chapter starts in the present, then Laurence takes the reader back in time - memorybank movies, she calls them. While Morag looks at some photographs, the reader is taken first to her birth, then her very young childhood. These first are "invented" memories, but eventually are the memories of Morag Dunn. We know only what Morag sees and thinks, what the other characters tell her - third person limited.

Morag is also told stories. This is the last of the group of Laurence's novels of Manawaka, and the stories are of the settlement, both of her ancestors and those of the Metis.

Morag, who is a successful writer in the parts told in the present, was raised in working-class poverty.

But if you work, really really work, and get educated, something will come of it, maybe. Like being able to get out of Manawaka and never come back. Morag listens at night to the long wailing of the trains crossing the prairies, their voices like the spooky voices of giant owls. She always feels warm and good at the sound, because she knows something which nobody else in this world knows. Which is, one day she will be on one of those trains, going to the city and maybe even further than the city. Going to the whole world.

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this when I was about 16, and Christy's "by their garbage shall ye know them" speech was life changing. Love this book. I've read it multiple times, but haven't re-read it in about 15 years. I should again.

[Mela · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel showed the tangle of stories with history. I liked how she captured the reality of stories told by people about events that happened, yet were told differently by different people.

Also fascinating was a glimpse at social changes in Canada.

And, of course, Morag (and a few others) was another great character written by Margaret Laurence.

Unfortunately, I occasionally lost attention because my knowledge of Canada's history is limited, and I got confused. Many references were lost for me. So, although it was a great novel, I want to stress that I loved three other books (I have read to this point) of the author more, so I am giving "The Diviners" 4-4.5 stars.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intelligent, slow read for me. I loved it. I don't really know why, except maybe that I appreciated its honesty, and I think this level of honesty is rare. I imagine that Laurence was a rational, two-feet-on-the-ground type of person, and I wish I could have known her. I have people like this in my life, and I find them refreshing and easy.

My version of this book has a fantastic Afterword by Timothy Findley. At only three or four pages long, it does a much better job than me -- obviously -- at articulating this REALNESS of The Diviners. Regarding its history as a banned book, he says "it has been plagued by the dread fear of honesty." I couldn't agree more.

[Alan (The Lone Librarian) Teder · Rating 5 out of 5]

The River Flows Both Ways 🍁
A review of the New Canadian Library Kindle edition (November 19, 2008) of the McClelland & Stewart hardcover original (1974).

The waters flowed from north to south, and the current was visible, but now a south wind was blowing, ruffling the water in the opposite direction, so that the river, as so often here, seemed to be flowing both ways.

The Diviners is a Canadian fiction classic which had its 50th anniversary last year in 2024. The Canadian Stratford Festival marked the occasion by staging a theatrical adaptation The Diviners: A play based on the novel by Margaret Laurence (2024) by Vern Thiessen & Yvette Nolan. I wanted to do a review of the playscript after seeing the play, but felt I should re-read the original first, in order to better assess the theatrical adaptation. My original read was around 1988 based on The Diviners paperback that I had.


The cover of the current eBook edition which uses the same cover as the 2017 paperback and the 2024 audiobook. For some reason, Goodreads does not permit you to post alternate covers for Kindle editions. Image sourced from Amazon.

My impression of both works were enhanced by this re-read. Although the story centres on writer Morag Gunn and her struggles to complete a current novel, it flashbacks constantly to her early life in the small town of Manawaka, Manitoba (Laurence's regular stand-in for her birth town of Neepawa). It also flashes back even further into the 19th century with likely tale tales by Morag's adopted father Christie about Morag's supposed ancestor Piper Gunn, a Scotsman who brought displaced Sutherlanders to a "promised land" in Canada. Morag's love of her youth, the Métis boy Jules Tonnerre, grows up to be a singer/songwriter who writes songs about his own grandfather who fought with Louis Riel (1844-1885) in the Northwest Rebellion (1885). So the novel has the scope of epic fiction.

The theme of "divining" i.e. searching for underground water sources with a willow wand, is expanded throughout the book beyond its surface meaning. Royland, a friend of Morag's in her current town of McConnell's Landing (fictional version of Lakefield, Ontario), is the only actual "diviner" in the book by that definition. The other characters are searching for their identities and purposes in life. The young Morag struggles as an orphan and dreams of becoming a writer. The young Jules looks to escape Manawaka and the downtrodden life of his father Lazarus and the tragic death of his sister Piquette. In later life, Morag & Jules' daughter Pique sets out to make her own journey to discover her Métis heritage.

I partnered this re-read of the Kindle edition (which allowed the noting of favourite excerpts seen below or here if you are reading outside of GR) with the recent 2024 audiobook edition The Diviners narrated by Athena Karkanis who gave an outstanding performance in all voices, including singing the various songs in the text.

Soundtrack

Publisher McClelland and Stewart released a promotional EP single with performances of the original song lyrics written by Margaret Laurence for The Diviners. The first 3 songs are by Morag Gunn's lover Jules Tonnere and the 4th is by their daughter Pique. You can hear the songs on YouTube as The Ballad of Jules Tonnerre, Lazarus, Piquette's Song and Pique's Song.

Trivia and Links
Aside from the recent 2024 theatrical adaptation mentioned above, there have been other theatrical adaptations over the years, but none that were published. Apparently there was even one by Margaret Laurence herself, according to this Literary Summaries article.

There was a CBC television film adaptation The Diviners (1993) dir. by Anne Wheeler and starring Sonja Smits as Morag Gunn.

[Laura Frey (Reading in Bed) · Rating 5 out of 5]

As good as or better than The Stone Angel which is one of my favourite books of all time. Well now this is too.

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really more like 3.5 stars for me, but I suppose it does belong a notch above my other 3 star ratings, so it will have to be a 4. After reading and loving The Stone Angel, I decided to try and read all of the Manawaka series of books and, although The Diviners is the last in the series, it was the next I was able to get, so it was the next I read. I think that it is mainly in comparison to The Stone Angel that this book left me a little cold.

I've been trying to figure out why I wasn't as impressed by this book, especially since it has a feeling of the epic, of a long and complicated journey, and I think in the end my complaint is that I didn't connect to the narrative on a personal or deeper level. This is especially odd since the character of Morag Gunn is a novelist and spends time explaining the complicated craft of writing literature, of trying to write a story on more than one level, so there must be something here I'm just not getting, because I'm certain the author took pains to put it in. I don't know much of Margaret Laurence's personal history, but even the author blurb shows that she has inserted much of her personal history into the character of Morag: born in a prairie town; orphaned young; wrote for the local newspaper; escaped to the University of Winnipeg; got married; moved away (Morag to Toronto, Laurence to Africa); got divorced; moved to the west coast; finally settled on a small farm in rural Ontario; enjoying success as an author along the way. Every time Morag mirrored what I knew about Margaret Laurence's history, I felt a bit taken out of the story, as though I had seen a little flag that said: these parts are true.

As writing a novel is a bit of alchemy I don't really understand, I liked these self-reflective bits on the process:

I used to think that words could do anything. Magic. Sorcery. Even miracle. But no, only occasionally.


And:


Probably no one could catch the river's colour, even with paints, much less words. A daft profession. Wordsmith. Liar, more likely. Weaving fabrications. Yet, with typical ambiguity, convinced that fiction was truer than fact. Or that fact was in fact fiction.


I also liked the introspective bits about who we are and what little we show of our true selves. It's true that we can no more imagine, or really want to know, the inner-workings of anyone else's mind, any more than we can help being shocked by seeing a teacher at the grocery store when we're little kids:


Whatever is happening to Pique is not what I think is happening, whatever that may be. What happened to me wasn't what anyone else thought was happening, and maybe not even what I thought was happening at the time. A popular misconception is that we can't change the past - everyone is constantly changing their own past, recalling it, revising it. What really happened? A meaningless question. But one I keep trying to answer, knowing there is no answer.


And:


The hurts unwittingly inflicted upon Pique by her mother, by circumstances - Morag had agonised over these often enough, almost as though, if she imagined them sufficiently, they would prove to have been unreal after all. But they were not unreal. Yet Pique was not assigning any blame - that was not what it was all about. And Pique's journey, although at this point it may feel to her unique, was not unique. Morag reached out and took Pique's hand, holding it lightly.



And I like this bit because not only did I also for some reason switch from calling my mother "Mum" to "Ma" when I was teen, but so has one of my own girls. Like my own Ma, I find it more amusing than distancing:


This Ma bit is new. It is as though Pique, at fifteen, has now decided that Mum sounds too childish and Mother possibly, too formal. The word in some way is a proclamation of independence, a statement of the fact that the distance between them, in terms of equality, is diminishing, and the relationship must soon become that of two adults. On balance, Morag is glad. But it will take some inner adjustment.

I liked the bits where Margaret Laurence references Susannah Moodie and Roughing It In The Bush because it's good to get the references. I still don't know if it makes me want to read the books of Moodie's sister, Catherine Parr Traill, though.

I appreciated how The Diviners took ideas from The Stone Angel full circle-- especially how it was discovered that the plaid pin from John Shipley was traded to Lazarus Tonnerre for a knife, then traded to Christie Logan for a pack of cigarettes, the knife given to Morag. Knowing that Pique would eventually be in possession of both the pin and the knife closes the circle on all of the families, uniting the Scots with the Métis and mocking the last of the small town's prejudices. I can also imagine how brave it was for Laurence to write about a strong woman who decided to have a baby without a husband, at a time when even the maternity nurses in the hospital told her she was lucky to be allowed to have her baby there. I understand Margaret Laurence received death threats over this fact and I salute her grit and honesty for writing it. Perhaps it was the experience of watching someone fighting a battle long won that prevented me from becoming fully invested. Perhaps, like old Royland, I had simply lost the powers to divine on this one.

[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have not read a great deal of Margaret Laurence's work, but love her prose style, and the intricate, intimate portraits of Canadian women which she presents. The Diviners, considered to be the final book in Laurence's Manawaka series, sounded exactly like my cup of tea. However, I found myself enjoying it nowhere near as much as The Stone Angel, which is an exquisite novel. This is certainly a readable book, but due to the way it is structured, it felt a little disjointed, and I was less interested in the protagonist than I anticipated I would be at the outset.

[lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

im just like in a really emotional state rn and maybe this is an emotional five stars but whatever i teared up AGAIN in public reading the end and jules 😭

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margaret Laurence is one of Canada's most esteemed writers. The Diviners is one of 5 books that are about strong women living in or from small town Manitoba. Morag Gunn is the central figure in this book, an orphan that was brought up on the wrong side of the tracks in Manawaka by Prin and Christie who is the town scavenger. She always felt out of place and awkward, didn't fit in and now, a successful writer in middle age, she is reflecting back on her life as she waits for and worries about her teenage daughter Pique who has taken off and gone to the west coast.

Snippets of Morag's life are told as if watching a home movie or reading an excerpt from a journal and include Christie's tall stories, her love affairs, her marriage and other episodes from her life as she matches snapshots to those memories. I think it's about finding your place in life, both in middle age and when you're young. Experiences that shape you and show you what you want and don't want. Morag has to let Pique find out her own way, too, just as she had to.

The book is filled with colourful characters and Laurence's dialogue and descriptions are a joy to read.

[George P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Canadian Margaret Laurence, who died in 1987, wrote quite a bunch of novels but only five of them have more than a couple hundred ratings on Goodreads. The Diviners is her only book to be listed in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, and also was awarded The Governor General's Award, which seems to be similar to the Pulitzer for Canadian books. It also has the highest average rating by Goodreaders of those five.
The novel follows the protagonist Morag Gunn, as she moves from girlhood to middle age with a good bit of chronological jumping about. I liked the writing style from the beginning but the story didn't initially seem very promising. However, the story became more engaging as it went along and I was very impressed by the character development of the protagonist and also the supporting characters. As I neared the end of the nearly 400 page novel I thought, "I'm going to miss reading about Morag when I've finished this".

[Deodand · Rating 2 out of 5]

Why do schools assign this book to teens? Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that it was assigned to my teenage self by 30- and 40-something women. If you've read the novel you'll know what I mean.

I had to explore this novel in extreme depth, I mean poring over every word of it for months. I wound up disliking it because the characters didn't really speak to me at that time. When a novel doesn't come alive for me, it's a real chore to listen to lectures about it day after day. I should start a shelf called "Spoiled by English Teachers".

[gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

ive said it before and i'll say it again... i have a soft spot for books about authors <3

[Czarny Pies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cinq étoiles sur l'échelle canadienne.

Depuis sa sortie en 1974, "Les Devins" domine la littérature canadienne-anglaise. On y trouve tous les thèmes majeures des cinquante dernières années. On parle de l'impact de nos racines celtes sur notre culture. On donne un portrait de la vie canadienne dans les grandes villes et les petits villages On prône la révolution sexuelle. On analyse les relations entre blancs et autochtones et l'influence de la culture française. Surtout, c'est un manifeste pour l'émancipation politique, économique, et professionnelle de la femme. Surchargé, le roman aurait pu déraper. Cependant "Les Devins" est l'œuvre d'auteure au sommet de ses moyens. Elle réussit brillamment grâce à ses personnages bien développées et une intrigue bien ficelée.
De nos jours il estimpossible de faire un diplôme en littérature anglaise dans une université anglophone au Canada sans lire "Les devins". Je le recommande fortement à tous les Québécois.

[kingshearte · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The culmination and completion of Margaret Laurence's celebrated Manawaka cycle, The Diviners is an epic novel. This is a powerful story of an independent woman who refuses to abandon her search for love. For Morag Gunn, growing up in a small Canadian prairie town is a toughening process - putting distance between herself and a world that wanted no part of her. But in time, the aloneness that had once been forced upon her becomes a precious right - relinquished only in her overwhelming need for love. Again and again, Morag is forced to test her strength against the world - and finally achieves the life she had determined would be hers."

This book took me a LONG time to get into at all. I considered many times putting it aside because the first part of it was so unbelievably boring. I decided to tough it out though, and eventually, it did start to hold at least some of my interest. I still didn't much care for the writing style, with the bouncing between present and flashbacks, but it was OK, I suppose. I don't really have much else to say about it, though. I read it, but it didn't enthrall me. Time to move on.

OK, I lied. I do have one other thing to say about this book. While the fact remains that I wasn't overly enamored with the way it was written, I can appreciate why it was considered such an important book when it was written. Morag is a woman who decides to have a baby, and decides to have it alone. She's just left her husband, and has no intention of either staying with the father she chooses for the baby or finding some other understanding man who will be a father to her child. She deliberately makes herself a single mother. Nowadays, there's nothing really shocking, or even particularly interesting, about that, but when it was written? Pretty much the only reason to be a single mother would be if your husband had died. And if you got pregnant out of wedlock, you certainly didn't keep the baby. Either you aborted in a dark corner with a coat hanger, or you went away somewhere, had the baby, and had it adopted. The idea of keeping it, raising it yourself, and making no apologies for the fact that its father has little or no place in your life? Unheard of. Unheard of to the point where Margaret Laurence apparently got death threats after publishing this book. People were so appalled by her wanton disregard for the family and all that, and it was just generally a big deal.

Plus, let's not forget that in addition to deliberately becoming a single mother, the father she chose for her child was a Métis - a halfbreed, to many of the people then. So really, the whole damn thing was just a giant scandal. So for that reason, I can see why it was important. Although I think we've moved past the *intense* taboos surrounding this stuff, so I'm not sure I would really still consider it all that important. Anyway.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sucked into this book more than I expected to be. I was incredibly fond of Morag, the main character, who I found to be very three dimensional. I laugh now, but I was infuriated when she got married to a guy that I absolutely couldn't stand. (She seems to attract this sort of man.) The book was written a while ago, in the 70s, and its depiction of racism and sexism almost seemed too much at times. But I have a sinking feeling that it wasn't as exaggerated as I was hoping it was,

My one complaint about the book has to do with its structure. In the main narrative, the main character is in her mid-40s, an accomplished writer with a grown daughter who lives in a log cabin in the wilderness. Her backstory is told as a series of "snapshots" from her past, which seems a bit sloppy. We know lots about Morag, because the story is told from her point of view. We learn about the other people in her life from their "I am just walking in the front door to say hi to you and to bare my soul to you" dialogs with Morag. I don't know, perhaps I need to open up more to the people around me, but some of the conversations between Morag and her neighbors, and her daughter seemed unrealistic, but necessary to tell the story. This grated on me a bit.

Anyway, highly recommended. This is my first book by Margaret Laurence and I look forward to reading more of her work.

[Jeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Diviners" deserves to be a Canadian Classic. I first read this book in the 1970's and just finished re-reading it for book club. The strong female characters of Morag and Pique are believable and memorable as they each face the various challenges in their life. Margaret Laurence's women characters are strong and make a statement about the role of women in society and the strength women need to break through the barriers that society has set for women. Jules, Christie and Royland are the important male characters in this novel and each in their own way refuse the role society tries to give them.

The theme of prejudice is an important one throughout the novel as well as the themes of love and belonging. Another theme is choices a person makes in life.

The Diviner's is an interesting choice of title for the novel when only Royland is a diviner in the sense of locating water for well. However, Morag, Pique and Jules all seem to be searching for their place in the world and which may be another type of divining.