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Swamp Angel
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.
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.
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
31 people are currently reading
989 people want to read
About the author
Ethel Wilson
15 books16 followersEthel Davis Wilson was a Canadian writer of short stories and novels.
Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, she moved to England in 1890 following the death of her mother. In 1898, after the death of her father, she was taken to live with her maternal grandmother in Vancouver, British Columbia. She received her teacher's certificate in 1907, and for thirteen years taught in Vancouver elementary schools.
In 1921 she married Wallace Wilson, President of the Canadian Medical Association and professor of medical ethics at the University of British Columbia.
Wilson is well known as one of the first Canadian writers to truly capture the beauty of British Colombia. She wrote often of places in BC that were important to her and was able to detail the ruggedness and magic of the landscape.
The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, British Columbia's top fiction award, was created in 1985, commemorating Wilson's achievements.
Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, she moved to England in 1890 following the death of her mother. In 1898, after the death of her father, she was taken to live with her maternal grandmother in Vancouver, British Columbia. She received her teacher's certificate in 1907, and for thirteen years taught in Vancouver elementary schools.
In 1921 she married Wallace Wilson, President of the Canadian Medical Association and professor of medical ethics at the University of British Columbia.
Wilson is well known as one of the first Canadian writers to truly capture the beauty of British Colombia. She wrote often of places in BC that were important to her and was able to detail the ruggedness and magic of the landscape.
The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, British Columbia's top fiction award, was created in 1985, commemorating Wilson's achievements.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews
June 7, 2017
The night his wife Maggie up and left him, a man marches a few doors down to confront an old lady and her daughter, their neighbors in New Westminster, British Columbia. They are her friends: they must know where she went, why she left. He is stunned, irate, and talking wounded macho hooey. While he rants, the old woman suddenly begins to twirl and juggle a wee little pearl-handled revolver, named the Swamp Angel, in the air. Again and again and again. This most un-Canadian, most unwomanly of gestures stops the man in his tracks; cowed, he goes home.
It stopped me in mine, too: cantankerous Mrs. Severance’s revolver spins and twirls, up and down, over and through much of this 1954 novel; what a rich, oddball symbol of female self-invention, of refusing to fit into social molds.
Maggie escapes into the interior of northern British Columbia and ends up working at a fishing lodge that’s fallen on hard times owing to its owner Haldar’s physical challenges after an accident. Maggie comes alive and gets the lodge running ship-shape in no time; this doesn’t sit as well with her boss’s sour, jealous wife Vera as it does everyone else.
That’s enough about the plot. But I want to add that, as someone who often skips over or skims extended descriptive passages about nature, I found Wilson’s depictions riveting. And the novel's quirky characters are so deeply drawn. Here’s a passage about an extremely minor one, Vera’s brother, Surl:
Mrs. Mordy did not care for Vera who resembled herself, being slight, pale, dark and thin-faced. She worshipped Surl who resembled in form a Greek god who happened to inhabit western Canada. Surl grew up into undeserved beauty, heroic in form but in nothing else, and crowned with a thick and strong tawny mop of curling hair. There was one thing about his face that was peculiar. His eyelids were set a little low across his eyes, and when he looked at a person, he looked not at the eyes of that person but at that person's lower lids, from under his own lids. This gave his look a slightly sensual yet bashful cast and, later was a source of excitement to young girls, and older ones too, who saw something personal in this curious regard which did not mean a thing and was simply a physical characteristic. Surl was no good.
(I did find the portrayal of the Chinese-Canadian characters a wee bit stereotypical—in a positive-stereotyping kind of way—while also recognising how ground-breaking it was for a Canadian WASP writer of this era to even want to include non-white characters in her story.)
I invite you to fall into this story with its gun-twirling mama, to delight in how Ethel Wilson juggles the urban and the natural, the potent tensions between rebellion, reinvention, and convention in women's lives. I hope that it all spins in the air for you as kaleidoscopically—as meaningfully—as it did for me.
It stopped me in mine, too: cantankerous Mrs. Severance’s revolver spins and twirls, up and down, over and through much of this 1954 novel; what a rich, oddball symbol of female self-invention, of refusing to fit into social molds.
Maggie escapes into the interior of northern British Columbia and ends up working at a fishing lodge that’s fallen on hard times owing to its owner Haldar’s physical challenges after an accident. Maggie comes alive and gets the lodge running ship-shape in no time; this doesn’t sit as well with her boss’s sour, jealous wife Vera as it does everyone else.
That’s enough about the plot. But I want to add that, as someone who often skips over or skims extended descriptive passages about nature, I found Wilson’s depictions riveting. And the novel's quirky characters are so deeply drawn. Here’s a passage about an extremely minor one, Vera’s brother, Surl:
Mrs. Mordy did not care for Vera who resembled herself, being slight, pale, dark and thin-faced. She worshipped Surl who resembled in form a Greek god who happened to inhabit western Canada. Surl grew up into undeserved beauty, heroic in form but in nothing else, and crowned with a thick and strong tawny mop of curling hair. There was one thing about his face that was peculiar. His eyelids were set a little low across his eyes, and when he looked at a person, he looked not at the eyes of that person but at that person's lower lids, from under his own lids. This gave his look a slightly sensual yet bashful cast and, later was a source of excitement to young girls, and older ones too, who saw something personal in this curious regard which did not mean a thing and was simply a physical characteristic. Surl was no good.
(I did find the portrayal of the Chinese-Canadian characters a wee bit stereotypical—in a positive-stereotyping kind of way—while also recognising how ground-breaking it was for a Canadian WASP writer of this era to even want to include non-white characters in her story.)
I invite you to fall into this story with its gun-twirling mama, to delight in how Ethel Wilson juggles the urban and the natural, the potent tensions between rebellion, reinvention, and convention in women's lives. I hope that it all spins in the air for you as kaleidoscopically—as meaningfully—as it did for me.
December 1, 2022
Ethel Wilson is considered a classical Canadian author up there among the best, so I wanted to give her a try. Swamp Angel is considered her best, so it was my choice.
The story is about a woman named Maggie Lloyd. She became a widow, childless and an orphan, all at the same time. In the hope to create something new of her life, she remarried. The second marriage was a failure. Events of the past are revealed in short, rapid flashbacks. Conversations, impressions, memories dot the flow of the now, the tale in the present. Leaving home in Vancouver, she takes up a job at a fishing lodge on Three Loon Lake in the interior of British Colombia. Her father had taught her how to fly-fish and make lures. She is hardworking, creative and willing to take chances. Will she make a new life for herself? She is kind and empathetic too.
The Swamp Angel of the title is the name of a small pistol, a woman’s gun, a gun handy for protection. It comes into Maggie’s possession from a friend, an elderly woman of a kindred spirit. Why is it given to Maggie? What will she do with it? What does it represent? These are the questions we consider as we read the book. The tale is an allegory. We are to consider the message conveyed.
Personally, I think Maggie hurls !
I have had difficulty figuring out how to rate this book. Th following are the points I have considered:
*Character portrayals are exemplary. Each character is vividly drawn. We are given a wide cast of characters varying in temperament and they are realistically “complicated”. The in-depth characterizations make the book worth reading. We are not told, we are shown, we see what people say and do. Short segments of text, snapshots, bombard us.
*Wonderful descriptions of flora and fauna are a second strong point. The gurgle and tumble of a stream, the brilliant flash of sun reflected from fish scales, the northern lights, a fawn, beavers, sandhill cranes, the cry of loons-–these are the creatures and the sights heard and seen. They are painted with an artist’s brush.
*Little guidance is given. At many points the reader is left wondering what the author is trying to say. Readers are left to draw their own conclusions. Sentences can be interpreted in numerous ways. This can be seen as both a plus and a minus. The story gives the reader food for thought, which is good. However, I do think the author’s views should be more easily discerned. Too often we are left hanging in midair. Being so unclear is in my view a bit of a copout, but it is quite simply Wilson’s style.
*Questions are left unresolved. What will happen in the future? This is a question the reader s left to contemplate. It is relatively clear what she won’t do. Life is often this way, so perhaps this is simply realistic, and, in that character portrayal is strong, we can pretty well guess how decisions will be made.
*The prose style is short and abrupt. Snapshots! Many chapters are scarcely a page long. I’m not sure I like this.
In the final analysis, I feel as though I am convincing myself I should like the story more than I actually do. If I thought the book was wonderful, I would know it immediately. So, three stars is my rating. The book is worth reading, and I am glad to have read it, but if it had really wowed me, I would have known this right off the bat. One’s gut response is the most accurate.
Louis Kotva narrates the audiobook. The narration is for the most part good. Not all, but most of the words are clearly articulated. The lodge at Three Loon Lake often sounds like Tree rather Three Loon Lake. I want to hear every single word clearly! At the start, you want to be sure you’ve got the facts right! The telling is rather monotonous and flat. I’m willing to give the narration three stars but no more than that.
**********************
*Swamp Angel 3 stars
*Hetty Dorval TBR
The story is about a woman named Maggie Lloyd. She became a widow, childless and an orphan, all at the same time. In the hope to create something new of her life, she remarried. The second marriage was a failure. Events of the past are revealed in short, rapid flashbacks. Conversations, impressions, memories dot the flow of the now, the tale in the present. Leaving home in Vancouver, she takes up a job at a fishing lodge on Three Loon Lake in the interior of British Colombia. Her father had taught her how to fly-fish and make lures. She is hardworking, creative and willing to take chances. Will she make a new life for herself? She is kind and empathetic too.
The Swamp Angel of the title is the name of a small pistol, a woman’s gun, a gun handy for protection. It comes into Maggie’s possession from a friend, an elderly woman of a kindred spirit. Why is it given to Maggie? What will she do with it? What does it represent? These are the questions we consider as we read the book. The tale is an allegory. We are to consider the message conveyed.
Personally, I think Maggie hurls !
I have had difficulty figuring out how to rate this book. Th following are the points I have considered:
*Character portrayals are exemplary. Each character is vividly drawn. We are given a wide cast of characters varying in temperament and they are realistically “complicated”. The in-depth characterizations make the book worth reading. We are not told, we are shown, we see what people say and do. Short segments of text, snapshots, bombard us.
*Wonderful descriptions of flora and fauna are a second strong point. The gurgle and tumble of a stream, the brilliant flash of sun reflected from fish scales, the northern lights, a fawn, beavers, sandhill cranes, the cry of loons-–these are the creatures and the sights heard and seen. They are painted with an artist’s brush.
*Little guidance is given. At many points the reader is left wondering what the author is trying to say. Readers are left to draw their own conclusions. Sentences can be interpreted in numerous ways. This can be seen as both a plus and a minus. The story gives the reader food for thought, which is good. However, I do think the author’s views should be more easily discerned. Too often we are left hanging in midair. Being so unclear is in my view a bit of a copout, but it is quite simply Wilson’s style.
*Questions are left unresolved. What will happen in the future? This is a question the reader s left to contemplate. It is relatively clear what she won’t do. Life is often this way, so perhaps this is simply realistic, and, in that character portrayal is strong, we can pretty well guess how decisions will be made.
*The prose style is short and abrupt. Snapshots! Many chapters are scarcely a page long. I’m not sure I like this.
In the final analysis, I feel as though I am convincing myself I should like the story more than I actually do. If I thought the book was wonderful, I would know it immediately. So, three stars is my rating. The book is worth reading, and I am glad to have read it, but if it had really wowed me, I would have known this right off the bat. One’s gut response is the most accurate.
Louis Kotva narrates the audiobook. The narration is for the most part good. Not all, but most of the words are clearly articulated. The lodge at Three Loon Lake often sounds like Tree rather Three Loon Lake. I want to hear every single word clearly! At the start, you want to be sure you’ve got the facts right! The telling is rather monotonous and flat. I’m willing to give the narration three stars but no more than that.
**********************
*Swamp Angel 3 stars
*Hetty Dorval TBR
January 24, 2022
Gripping, contemplative and beautiful. I'm so glad to have discovered Ethel Wilson and look forward to reading her other books.
April 28, 2009
Something in this book really worked for me. I saw it on a display at the Library, and the word "Swamp" enticed me, then I saw it was set in Vancouver/BC and the author was born in South Africa.
The tone and gentle pacing worked for me, and the author's obvious love for the land of BC. And the interactions between people, hopelessly stuck in their own behaviour patterns, but trying to be better. I don't know. I'm not explaining it well. A cetain decency conveyed, but even it cannot solve all conflicts.
The tone and gentle pacing worked for me, and the author's obvious love for the land of BC. And the interactions between people, hopelessly stuck in their own behaviour patterns, but trying to be better. I don't know. I'm not explaining it well. A cetain decency conveyed, but even it cannot solve all conflicts.
August 5, 2022
4+ stars to one of Canada's early published literary authors
I was very happy to be reminded of Ethel Wilson and to reread this. Canada had a serious problem of colonialism even after Confederation and it was very difficult for Canadian literary authors (please don't remind me of the wonderful LM Montgomery--she was not a literary author :) ) to be published, especially women. For those who innocently think that Canadian women's literary fiction began with Atwood, she was born 51 years earlier than Atwood, but didn't publish her first book until 1947. Not only was she awarded two prestigious Canadian literary medals, but the top fiction prize of British Columbia was created to commemorate her literary achievements.
Ah, but the novel itself, what about that? It's good, very Canadian, earlier literary fiction. It might not follow the "rules" or standards that have come to be expected, but as it says in the blurb, it "remains an astute and powerful study of one woman's integrity and the redemptive power of compassion." In it Maggie finds a way to leave an abusive husband and to start a new life working at a fishing lodge in the interior of BC. She is supported, after the fact since she told no one her plan, by Nell Severance, who owns the pearl handled revolver that was known as a Swamp Angel.
There are marvelously drawn characters in this book, and some great insight into the humanness of people, and even though it's not the main theme or thrust of the book, there is a stand against racism in it.
I was very happy to be reminded of Ethel Wilson and to reread this. Canada had a serious problem of colonialism even after Confederation and it was very difficult for Canadian literary authors (please don't remind me of the wonderful LM Montgomery--she was not a literary author :) ) to be published, especially women. For those who innocently think that Canadian women's literary fiction began with Atwood, she was born 51 years earlier than Atwood, but didn't publish her first book until 1947. Not only was she awarded two prestigious Canadian literary medals, but the top fiction prize of British Columbia was created to commemorate her literary achievements.
Ah, but the novel itself, what about that? It's good, very Canadian, earlier literary fiction. It might not follow the "rules" or standards that have come to be expected, but as it says in the blurb, it "remains an astute and powerful study of one woman's integrity and the redemptive power of compassion." In it Maggie finds a way to leave an abusive husband and to start a new life working at a fishing lodge in the interior of BC. She is supported, after the fact since she told no one her plan, by Nell Severance, who owns the pearl handled revolver that was known as a Swamp Angel.
There are marvelously drawn characters in this book, and some great insight into the humanness of people, and even though it's not the main theme or thrust of the book, there is a stand against racism in it.
May 30, 2017
This story was absolutely fascinating, right to the last page, but as I finished it, I still wondered what it was really about. The mystery about the Swamp Angel was never revealed. One could not be certain whether Vera would be alright. I even continued to wonder how well Maggie Lloyd understood herself and her own life (but I suppose that in itself is realistic - how many of us do understand ourselves and our lives?). I am tempted to re-read in the hope that I might catch some critical clues missed in the first reading, but on second thought, I think I need some time away from the story before I tackle it again. But what a pleasure to discover a book that seems to demand a re-read. So many do not warrant even one read! Thank you, Shelagh Rogers, for mentioning this book on The Next Chapter (several years ago).
August 17, 2020
A Canadian classic from 1954 I’d not read before. A contemplative read that I enjoyed a lot during a few days away. The protagonist is Maggie Lloyd, who at the outset of the novel escapes an unhappy second marriage that she entered into in haste after personal tragedy. I loved the description of her exit - you get a feel for how she must have begun to rebuild her sense of self to put everything in place in order to take that step. A very deliberate, quiet character. She heads out of the Vancouver area by bus with her fishing rod, intending to settle near Kamloops. There she finds a job at a fishing lodge. Around her are various folks and their different unhappinesses, joys, and complications. Wilson describes landscapes so beautifully, I re-read some of the descriptions with great enjoyment as soon as I'd finished them, my favourite probably being the road out of the city along the Fraser River. Wonderful. Her writing style in general was distinctive, elipptical (and actually features a lot of elippses!), and even a little odd somehow: old-fashioned in some respects but she also sometimes phrases things in unexpected ways, and I think there's an underlying sophistication to it.
January 1, 2015
I read this book some years ago and I have just finished rereading it. I think this is a wonderful novel. It has a deceptively simple plot, but needs careful attention to detail to reveal Wilson's astute observations on human relationships. I have lived in Kamloops for the past almost twenty years and Wilson's descriptions of the lakes and land in the area are great!
April 19, 2014
Beautifully constructed, intricate and real in it's characterizations. Not a book for those who like straight ahead story with predictable ends. This book was written by a woman who had lived most of her life and had a keen eye for observation. Her setting is dead-on!
January 6, 2018
"A first meeting. A meeting in the desert, a meeting at sea, meeting in the city, meeting at night, meeting at a grave, meeting in the sunshine beside the forest, beside water. Human being meet, yet the meetings are not the same. Meeting partakes in its very essence not only of the persons but of the place of meeting. And that essence of place remains, and colors, faintly, the association, perhaps forever."
A fine novel. I'm ashamed that I had never heard of Ethel Wilson until someone sent me this book in a blind book exchange last year. It sat collecting dust on my bookshelf until, through some serendipity (and the praises of one Mr. Shawn Mooney), it floated back up into my awareness. I love it when you find the perfect book at the right time in your life. This novel is barely 200 pages but it speaks volumes about marriage, loss, transitions, the healing power of being true to oneself, nature as a spiritual force. I cannot sing its praises enough so I will conclude my review with another quotation, the one that best expresses my feeling for this novel: "No one can write about perfect love because it cannot be committed to words by those who know about it."
A fine novel. I'm ashamed that I had never heard of Ethel Wilson until someone sent me this book in a blind book exchange last year. It sat collecting dust on my bookshelf until, through some serendipity (and the praises of one Mr. Shawn Mooney), it floated back up into my awareness. I love it when you find the perfect book at the right time in your life. This novel is barely 200 pages but it speaks volumes about marriage, loss, transitions, the healing power of being true to oneself, nature as a spiritual force. I cannot sing its praises enough so I will conclude my review with another quotation, the one that best expresses my feeling for this novel: "No one can write about perfect love because it cannot be committed to words by those who know about it."
July 28, 2011
Written in 1950s. A woman plans and then carries out her plan to leave her husband. Her 2nd husband, whom she married out confusion and grief. Her first was killed in the war, and her little daughter also died. She took on as her second husband a cocky brash man, a selfish man, mistaking his confident extroversion for assured comptetence. He turns out to be a self centred little mean-spirited and spiteful man. And so the book opens with Maggie carrying out her domestic chores for the final time, then sneaking away after supper. She didnt even do the dishes. I like that part the best.
That was the the best part. The tension, wondering if her husband would figure out something was up before she could escape. She ends up in a fishing lodge in the wilderness of BC interior. This part is weaker. Probably this would have been a great short story, excised from the first half of the novel.
That was the the best part. The tension, wondering if her husband would figure out something was up before she could escape. She ends up in a fishing lodge in the wilderness of BC interior. This part is weaker. Probably this would have been a great short story, excised from the first half of the novel.
April 27, 2017
Read this one for class and it was great! 4.5*
October 27, 2021
There are bits in here that remind us that Ethel Wilson was a deep one. Her characters are rarely wealthy, usually working class, often eccentric. She has a love and feel for the BC landscape, particularly inland along the rivers. She tends to do female characters better and more thoroughly (and insightfully) than male.
I do wish she would lose the lowbrow phonetic spelling that peppers her works, as if plain folk talk so differently than the upper crust that one has to write "would of" instead of "would have" and "certny" instead of "certainly," etc. However, there's a playfullness and freshness to such breakings of convention, which adds to Wilson's uniqueness, I suppose.
Here is a description of the Northen Lights that contributed to my awarding of four stars:
"The pale glow was greenish, no, a hot color rose up and quickly took possession. The color changed. The vast sky moved as with banners. The sky was an intimation of something still vaster, and spiritual..For two hours Maggie watched enraptured the great folding, playing, flapping of these draperies of light in heaven, transient, unrepeated, sliding up and down the sky. After declaiming lavishly, the great Northern Lights faded with indifference as one who is bored and--deploring display--says I may come back but only if I choose; I do as I wish; I am powerful;I am gone but I am here. The orthodox stars, which had been washed away, returned palely. Night was resumed, and Maggie slept."
Also pushing me towards four stars are Wilson's characters, including elderly eccentric Nell Severance, who says: "I have just a few convictions left and I hope to die before I lose them. But when Albert says What do you believe in and I say I believe in faith and Albert says Faith in what, I can't tell him. Because when you try to put faith into words, the words are hollow."
I should probably say something about the main character Maggie Lloyd. She's a likeable admirable heroine. Though she's not supposed to be THE Swamp Angel (That's a gun) I think of her as such: she's kind and good and indeed saves numerous people in this book, some from dying, even !!
I do wish she would lose the lowbrow phonetic spelling that peppers her works, as if plain folk talk so differently than the upper crust that one has to write "would of" instead of "would have" and "certny" instead of "certainly," etc. However, there's a playfullness and freshness to such breakings of convention, which adds to Wilson's uniqueness, I suppose.
Here is a description of the Northen Lights that contributed to my awarding of four stars:
"The pale glow was greenish, no, a hot color rose up and quickly took possession. The color changed. The vast sky moved as with banners. The sky was an intimation of something still vaster, and spiritual..For two hours Maggie watched enraptured the great folding, playing, flapping of these draperies of light in heaven, transient, unrepeated, sliding up and down the sky. After declaiming lavishly, the great Northern Lights faded with indifference as one who is bored and--deploring display--says I may come back but only if I choose; I do as I wish; I am powerful;I am gone but I am here. The orthodox stars, which had been washed away, returned palely. Night was resumed, and Maggie slept."
Also pushing me towards four stars are Wilson's characters, including elderly eccentric Nell Severance, who says: "I have just a few convictions left and I hope to die before I lose them. But when Albert says What do you believe in and I say I believe in faith and Albert says Faith in what, I can't tell him. Because when you try to put faith into words, the words are hollow."
I should probably say something about the main character Maggie Lloyd. She's a likeable admirable heroine. Though she's not supposed to be THE Swamp Angel (That's a gun) I think of her as such: she's kind and good and indeed saves numerous people in this book, some from dying, even !!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2019
My sister Nancy rated this book as "a gem" and I agree. It feels very Canadian in the tradition of Alice Munro or Mavis Gallant. Kind of quiet, no showy stretching for effects, leavened with a deep appreciation of place and mood. The characters are a bit quirky, again in the vein of quirky Canadian characters such as those you might meet in books by Leacock or Davies. The writing is also a bit quirky, using some odd sentence constructions and chapter segments. Something to savour is the description of the land: lakes, rivers, mountains, trees, sage, fish. These are lovely and you do tend to fall in love with Two Loon Lake. I had the sense that the main character, Maggie Lloyd, is the author's hero in the unusual sense of being written as an archetypal independent woman. The book was published in 1954 at a time when the rising tide of dissatisfaction with prescribed women's role in North America was starting to be noticeable. At the beginning of the story, you can feel and empathize with the revulsion Maggie has for her married life with her second husband. As the story unfolds you appreciate how grounded and capable Maggie is. She successfully creates her own world on her own terms. There is enough suspense in the story to keep you turning the pages. The overall effect is charming.
January 10, 2016
I am so glad that Canada Reads inspired me to reread this book after a few decades. I loved this book. Wilson's description of the BC interior, and her sense of what it means to be a flyfisher are spot on, beautiful and obviously written by someone who knows both very well. In the afterword George Bowering says this book is simple & complex, like flyfishing; the idea is simple the method is complex.
January 30, 2018
A book about ideas and human relationships, and probably a number of other things to. I am so impressed by Canadian writing. I was happy to read about the highly featured elements of the British Columbia landscape (including Vancouver City) that were familiar to me. Wilson offers deep and complicated insight into the way we meet people, make friends, and find home.
April 20, 2018
3.5 stars. I loved the description of the backwoods of BC and the fishing camp ...felt transformed to that space and time. The story of Maggie leaving her husband and starting a new life in a new locale really appealed to me. I found that it wasn't always easy to read; I'd sometimes have to go back over sentences and paragraphs - a bit of a quirky writing style.
June 28, 2025
3.5 stars
I heard this book described as the most Canadian of books.
Love the main character Maggie Lloyd & perhaps a little more, Nell Severance. Heck, I even like Vera (‘s portrayal).
“When the little sliver of jealousy ran into her flesh, she did not pull it out” (112).
Book originally published in 1954.
I heard this book described as the most Canadian of books.
Love the main character Maggie Lloyd & perhaps a little more, Nell Severance. Heck, I even like Vera (‘s portrayal).
“When the little sliver of jealousy ran into her flesh, she did not pull it out” (112).
Book originally published in 1954.
December 9, 2015
More beautiful descriptions, integrating nature with story and story with nature.
"...Here, once more, they drove past the great solitary bull pines with their strongly hatched and corrugated bark — all the delights of this country spoke afresh to Maggie — swelling hills, wild and widespread sage, look! there is a coyote and his colour is the same dun colour as the hill on which he runs purposefully about his business. He vanishes. This was Maggie's third year in. Breathe this sagey air! See, a bluebird! Floating cloud, drifting scent, tree, wild creature, curving fleeting hill — each made its own statement to Maggie in the imperishable spring."
Interesting, especially in light of recent losses.
"...Maggie did not mourn for Mrs. Severance. There is mourning and missing."
The greatest of descriptions, here.
"...Skies continued gray and promised no relief, although at the end of four days the lake and sky suddenly blossomed without warning into innocent beauty and shone with calm, deceitful as a witch."
And here.
"...a group of aspen trees, standing slender, white-bodies, like dancing girls, poised as if to move away, and beginning to be dressed about their slender arms and shoulders in a timid unearthly green. ..."
Death is on my mind. Mrs. Severance is stoic and matter-of-fact, but even she has issues with it. Who doesn't? Some people.... not me.
"'And first I wrote to Maggie to throw the Angel [her gun] away, and then I tore that up and asked her to keep it. But if anything ever happens to me ... if anything ever happens to me!' she repeated with scorn. 'How scared we are, aren't we, of the word "die," how mealy-mouthed. I mean when I die ...' Mrs. Severance spoke with indifference, as: When I die. When I go out in the rain or the sun."
A kitten and fawn, not interacting, but connected. The kitten plays, does not see the fawn, but the fawn is enchanted. And the kitten is a tiger now. A reminder of what Alan had been: a wild cat... Brilliant.
"The kitten awoke, completely aware of birds in the woods. She jumped down and trotted along the veranda and onto the ground. Then, flattening herself, extending herself paw by predatory paw, she passed crouching into the forest. Close behind her stepped the fawn with its delicate bowing tread. The woods received them. Vanished were fawn and tiger."
Wilson again impresses and delights me. Alan is pretending to be a leopard, and Maggie responds to his play with seriousness and respect. When his mother asks if she has seen him, Maggie does not say. For she did not see Alan, she saw something else. Beautiful. Brilliant. Magick.
"'Did you see Alan?' asked Vera with crossed brows. 'He hasn't done his wood.'
'No,' said Maggie. She thought That's not fair to Vera but it takes God himself to be fair to two different people at once. What she had seen was a leopard slipping secretly into the forest from which Alan would no doubt emerge."
The end of a chapter often offers some wise insight. I can't stop myself from recording them. I want to live life in a robust way like Wilson. How does she know these things? Can I?
"There is a beautiful action. It has an operative grace. It is when one, seeing some uneasy sleeper cold and without a cover, goes away, finds and fetches a blanket, bends down, and covers the sleeper because the sleeper is a living being and is cold. He then returns to to his work, forgetting he has performed this small act of compassion. He will receive neither praise nor thanks. It does not matter who the sleeper may be. That is a beautiful action which is divine and human in posture and intention and self-forgetfulness. Maggie was compassionate and perhaps she would be able to serve Vera Gunnarsen in this way, forgetting that she did so, and expecting neither praise nor thanks ... or perhaps she would not."
Another brilliant insight. Vera's response to Maggie.
"...When the little sliver of jealousy ran into her flesh, she did not pull it out. Her flesh festered pleasantly around the sliver. She indulged in the pleasure of the pain of her small growing jealousy. Since jealousy is a luxury which soon becomes a necessity to those who have felt its sharp enthralling pain, Vera became unhappy again. ..."
Simple and effectively written (with brackets!): Maggie's role and feeling about the place.
"By the time that two months had gone past, Maggie's union with Three Loon Lake was like a happy marriage (were we married last week, or have we always lived together as one?)."
A passion for friendship, and how Wilson expressed it.
"How I love Alberto, she thought. How inordinately he laughs! He laughs with his hair and his eyes and his teeth and his fists and his elbows. He shakes this house up like a cocktail. ..."
Leading up to this paragraph, Maggie makes an impression on Vera and Haldar Gunnarson. That's great, but this WOW.
"A first meeting. A meeting in the desert, a meeting at sea, meeting in the city, meeting at night meeting at a grave, meeting in the sunshine beside the forest, beside water. Human beings meet, yet the meetings are not the same. Meeting partakes in its very essence not only of the persons but of the place of meeting. And that essence of place remains, and colors, faintly, the association, perhaps forever."
Great description.
"While her mother spoke of her distant triumph, Hilda idled in her low chair, and her own long shapely legs showed in her attitude the extreme elegance that belongs only to long and shapely legs displayed in the relaxed indifferent grace of repose. ..."
So much gorgeous prose and storytelling, but it is all so amazing, I have to record it. This is the way to describe the passage of time, and show observation.
"Yes, thought Maggie, it was lonely but it was nice there. The picket fence and the crosses would be covered by snow in the winter. Then the spring sunshine beating on the hillside would melt the snow, and the snow would run off, and the crosses would stand revealed again. And in the spring the Canada geese would pass in their arrows of flight, honking, honking, high over the silent hillside. Later in the season, when the big white moon was full, coyotes would sing among the hills at night, on and on in the moonlight, stopping, and then all begining again together. Spring flowers would come — a few — in the coarse grass. Then, in the heat of the summer, bright small snakes and beetles would slip through the grasses, and the crickets would dryly sing. Then the sumac would turn scarlet, and the skeins of wild geese would return in their swift pointed arrows of flight to the south, passing high overhead between the great hills. Their musical cry would drop down into the valley lying in silence. Then would come the snow, and the three wooden crosses would be covered again. It was indeed very nice there."
Wilson prepares us for the depth of insight that she will share, and that Maggie will give to us. An absolutely gorgeous way of describing what is not described, of expressing what is unexpressable.
"These days had been for Maggie like the respite that perhaps comes to the soul after death. This soul (perhaps, we say) is tired from slavery or from its own folly or just from the journey and from the struggle of departure and arrival, alone, and for a time — or what we used to all time — must stay still, and accustom the ages of the soul, and its multiplied senses, to something new, which is still fondly familiar. So Maggie, after her slavery, and her journey and her last effort — made alone — stayed still, and accustomed herself to something new which was still fondly familiar to her."
Absolutely gorgeous.
"When she first saw the Similkameen River, the dancing river with the dancing name, it was a broad mountain stream of a light blue that was silver in the bright morning, and of a silver that was blue. ...."
I love Wilson's writing and her descriptions.
"The boy's upper lip lifted in a smile that gave his face a fastidious expression (like a young priest, like a young lord, like a young tiger, she thought)...."
More insight, and thoughts. Mrs. Vardoe, no longer really, but Mrs. Lloyd thinks deep, and attracts others with her insight, so quietly, so completely.
"...Mrs. Lloyd's imagination followed the old Chinaman into the low building, back to his crowded home perhaps two streets away, and again into the church. What called him there? What were his thoughts? Who were his friends? How did he live? What were his hopes? When the church members gathered in that dingy building, what Christ did they see before them? Was Christ a Chinaman, a Jew, a Christian? He was still Christ. All this and much more she passionately longed to know..."
Great writing, wondrous book, brilliant author. Just one of many examples of her insight and intelligence, and awareness of the world, which she imparts with such clarity to us lucky readers.
"...These actions, which were familiar and almost mechanical, took on, tonight, the significance of movement forward, of time felt in the act of passing, of a moment being reached (time always passes, but it is in the nature of things that we seldom observe it flowing, flying, past). Each action was important in itself and, it seemed, had never been real before."
Thus, it BEGINS, in a moment before it all changes for good, and for great. Brilliant opening.
"Ten twenty fifty brown birds flew past the window and then a few stragglers, out of sight. A fringe of Mrs. Vardoe's mind flew after them (what were they — birds returning in migration of course) and then was drawn back into the close fabric of her preoccupations. She looked out over the small green garden which would soon grow dark in evening. This garden led down a few steps to the wooden sidewalk; then there was the road, dusty in fine weather; next came the neighbors' houses across the road, not on a level with her own but lower, as the hill declined, so that she was able to look over the roofs of these houses to Burrard Inlet far below, to the dark green promontory of Stanley Park, to the elegant curve of the Lions' Gate Bridge which springs from the Park to the northern shore which is the base of the mountains; and to the mountains. The mountains seemed, in this light, to rear themselves straight up from the shores of Burrard Inlet until they formed an escarpment along the whole length of the northern sky. This escarpment looked solid at times, but certain light disclosed slope behind slope, hill beyond hill, giving an impression of the mountains which was fluid, not solid.
Mrs. Vardoe had become attached to, even absorbed into the sight from the front-room window of inlet and forest and mountains. She had come to love it, to dislike it, to hate it, and at seven-fifteen this evening she proposed to leave it and not to return. Everything was, she thought, in order."
June 13, 2018
I first became aware of this book with a mention of it along with another novel in a forward another Canadian novel "The Tin Flute". This was a decades old old reprinting of Gabrielle Roy's novel and for some reason, I thought "Swamp Angel" along with the other novel would have faded in significance and be long forgotten and out of print. However, the name intrigued me and I saw that it was still in print and available on Amazon.
I am very glad that I took the trouble to follow up on this mention of "Swamp Angel" since I found it to be a very superior novel. The form, language and themes of this novel fascinated me as I read it. For me, the novel is about the meaning of the perfect life and the urge to find it. One character in the novel tates that the nobody writes about the perfect life because it is a life in which nothing happens. This is exemplified by the character Maggie fly fishing after leaving her husband. The description of this action in the book is telling Maggie loses her identity in this activity which is her passion. She becomes a a collection of moving parts totally immersed in the task. This cannot go on because life is not that simple and the rest of the novel is concerned with how people can approach their perfect life in a manner that is compatible with the reality of their social situation. How can they have a perfect life and live with other people who are attempting the same thing. How can the conflicts be resolved? How can compromises be made. How to deal with people who do not understand what they want are alienated from the effort.
I am very glad that I took the trouble to follow up on this mention of "Swamp Angel" since I found it to be a very superior novel. The form, language and themes of this novel fascinated me as I read it. For me, the novel is about the meaning of the perfect life and the urge to find it. One character in the novel tates that the nobody writes about the perfect life because it is a life in which nothing happens. This is exemplified by the character Maggie fly fishing after leaving her husband. The description of this action in the book is telling Maggie loses her identity in this activity which is her passion. She becomes a a collection of moving parts totally immersed in the task. This cannot go on because life is not that simple and the rest of the novel is concerned with how people can approach their perfect life in a manner that is compatible with the reality of their social situation. How can they have a perfect life and live with other people who are attempting the same thing. How can the conflicts be resolved? How can compromises be made. How to deal with people who do not understand what they want are alienated from the effort.
January 14, 2013
This Canadian novel is getting a little aged for the typical reader – 1954 – but it’s themes of establishing self-identity, esteem and strong friendships are still relevant today. This is one of those rare books that won’t exactly win you over when you read its description on the back, but its straight-forward language and inviting first scenes of a woman leaving her husband will keep you reading. I’m not typically a fan of reading long scenes that describe the Canadian landscape but this time I loved it. The reader can definitely tell the author has not only been to the place she describes, but was in love with it. She truly captured the spirit of Canadian cottage life for me! What also interested me was the interaction between characters and how their own perceptions of each other and themselves affect their behaviour. It presents a psychological look at what some will do to become happier, stronger people while others sabotage the great things they have around them to perpetuate their belief that they don’t deserve them. Look for Christian symbolism and ponder over what the Swamp Angel represents. This is definitely a book I’m going to pick up again.
Check out my reviews for my 2012 reads at www.oliviamainville.com
Check out my reviews for my 2012 reads at www.oliviamainville.com
February 22, 2018
A pregnant peep into the heart of British Columbian ethos, truly embodying that "last frontier" quality that its geography so demands. Sometimes it felt like I was being dipped into an Emily Carr painting with Ethel Wilson's Swamp Angel, and sometimes into an E. Pauline Johnson poem. Either way, a powerful push into a new, unfamiliar world that, once immersed in it, isn't really that new or unfamiliar at all.
Read on recommendation of CBC Books' 100 novels that make you proud to be Canadian.
Read on recommendation of CBC Books' 100 novels that make you proud to be Canadian.
January 6, 2015
Liked this book about women trying to get on and get along. The characters were quite rich and descriptions of both city and back country were great. I kept expecting the Swamp Angel to fulfill its role as Checkov's gun . I think I'd like to read this again sometime.
June 26, 2015
This book is a gem. I was interested in it at first because of the setting in British Columbia, but I was quickly drawn in by the plot's early suspense surrounding Maggie's escape from her boorish husband. It's true that there isn't much excitement after that part, but the descriptions of the rivers, forests and lakes of the interior were so compelling, and, overall, I found Maggie to be a really sympathetic character, with her steady determination to "swim past obstacles." I didn't really understand Nell Severance as a character and felt that her back story should have been filled in more so that the significance of the Swamp Angel, her beloved revolver, would have been clearer.
December 26, 2015
I look forward to hearing this novel discussed on Canada Reads as I feel that I did not take away everything there was to digest and contemplate. I initially thought I was really going to enjoy the story of Maggie who felt compelled to leave her husband on silent feet. As the pages went on, however, it felt like there were too many side stories bound up with Maggie's.
Maggie ends up in a little fishing camp near Kamloops vigorously protecting her history and her solitude only to have it interrupted by the jealousy of the camp owner's wife, Vera. Maggie's intentions are misinterpreted and lead to a catastrophic action on Vera's part.
January 4, 2018
This is one of my favorite books ever, and I have read it, and taught it, several times. I think it appeals to me because it has several contradictory qualities (yes, that's the kind of person I am); poetry and drama, fascination with nature as well as practical knowledge of many kinds. The mystery that surrounds the story from the beginning and which is never quite revealed – why is Maggie running away from her husband, and why is it so important for her to keep it secret? – makes it possible to read this novel as a mystery or crime fiction. But there is so much more to this novel - basically it asks deep questions about the human condition.
August 2, 2014
What a skillful and entertaining writer! I haven't read anything else by Ethel Wilson yet, but one day I will re-read "Swamp Angel". It's not too distracting, but sometimes I noticed I was reading words and words and words, then come to the full stop and realize I had read a beautifully composed sentence. And her insight! I thought perhaps I have been disguising my own bad behaviour...maybe people don't notice. But Ethel Wilson notices. I found "Swamp Angel" a short and very satisfying read.
April 25, 2016
This book was written in 1954, and I was partway through it before I realized that I had read it before, I think many years ago (before I had as much life experience as I do now...) but the point is that it is memorable writing, and even if you forget some of the details of the plot or the storyline, you won't forget the images created in your mind. The bare bones of the story is that it is about a woman who leaves a husband to go and work at a fishing resort in British Columbia. And swamp angel is the name of a gun.
January 19, 2013
The plot line about a woman who escapes an abusive marriage to work in a lake resort in the mountains of the Thompson River country near Kamloops, British Columbia is not all that compelling, but there are passages of startling psychological insight and some complex character developments which I liked. I also appreciated her ability to conjure forth the look and feel of both the sagebrush country of interior BC as well as the sub-alpine woods. A good read.
October 8, 2014
This is a beautiful piece of Canadian literature. I read some of Wilson's stories back in University in the early 80s, but missed this elegant novel. She evokes a sense of place so powerfully. (Vancouver, the road to Kamloops BC, then on further out to a fishing lodge on a small isolated lake outside Kamloops. Her characters are captivating and the action compelling. A hint of existentialism as a bonus.
Further bonus will be discussing the novel with Tom and Dan.
Further bonus will be discussing the novel with Tom and Dan.
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