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Shadow in Hawthorn Bay
When fifteen-year-old Mary journeys from Scotland to Canada in search of her cousin, she makes a tragic discovery and alienates the townsfolk who fear her psychic powers.
216 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1987
About the author
Janet Lunn
30 books36 followersJanet was born Janet Louise Swoboda on December 28, 1928 in Dallas, Texas, U.S.A, moved to Vermont when she was two and lived there until she was ten when the family moved to the outskirts of New York City. She came to Canada in 1946 to go to Notre Dame College in Ottawa and then to Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. There she met and married Richard Lunn, a fellow student. She has lived in Canada ever since. Janet has five children, ten grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Her husband died in 1987.
"Those," she says, "are the bare bones of my life story. The part that's interesting to readers has to do with reading, writing and daydreaming which are all, in my case, one and the same." She calls herself a dedicated daydreamer and says she has been that, "almost from the moment I was born. Even before I could read I was dreaming up stories. The sound of the wind in the ancient pine tree outside my window in our old farmhouse accompanied all my childhood imaginings. When I was in my teens and living far from that beloved home, I began writing stories with the sound of that tree still singing in my head."
Years later, in Canada, when her children were in their school years, the Lunn family went to live in an old farmhouse at the edge of a bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario. "I loved that house, too, she says, "and I began writing stories about it and the people who might once have lived in it. The stories I made up about the Vermont house have long since vanished but the ones I wrote about the Ontario-house families are The Root Cellar, Shadow in Hawthorn Bay and The Hollow Tree."
Janet lives in Ottawa now in a small city house but, chances are, her stories will still reflect her love of the countryside and those old farmhouses.
"Those," she says, "are the bare bones of my life story. The part that's interesting to readers has to do with reading, writing and daydreaming which are all, in my case, one and the same." She calls herself a dedicated daydreamer and says she has been that, "almost from the moment I was born. Even before I could read I was dreaming up stories. The sound of the wind in the ancient pine tree outside my window in our old farmhouse accompanied all my childhood imaginings. When I was in my teens and living far from that beloved home, I began writing stories with the sound of that tree still singing in my head."
Years later, in Canada, when her children were in their school years, the Lunn family went to live in an old farmhouse at the edge of a bay on the north shore of Lake Ontario. "I loved that house, too, she says, "and I began writing stories about it and the people who might once have lived in it. The stories I made up about the Vermont house have long since vanished but the ones I wrote about the Ontario-house families are The Root Cellar, Shadow in Hawthorn Bay and The Hollow Tree."
Janet lives in Ottawa now in a small city house but, chances are, her stories will still reflect her love of the countryside and those old farmhouses.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
April 20, 2023
Janet Lunn was a very gifted writer for young people, and Shadow in Hawthorn Bay is well-written, with authentic sounding characters. The story is set in 1815 Canada. Mary, a young Scottish girl (15 years old) has the Second Sight. She is called to Canada by the voice of her cousin and spiritual twin, Duncan, who travelled with his family to the New World a few years earlier. She hears him, from across the sea, begging her to come, and so despite the challenges, she runs away to Canada. Her journey is rough, and her arrival is an experience of overwhelming sensations and disappointment: she discovers that Duncan is dead and his family has returned to Scotland. Now she's penniless and friendless and has to stay in Canada until she earns her passage home. In that adventure of being on her own, she discovers herself, tests her courage and compassion, and becomes a woman.
Lunn doesn't back down from portraying the rough life of Canada in 1815, the claustrophobia of trees, trees, trees against the effort to clear a space for people to live. Mary settles into a community of Loyalists, who lost everything when they fled the States during the Revolution, and she gets involved in their pain while she is processing her own grief. It's a life of hard work and sacrifice, and Mary's youth does not exempt her from the worst of it. Through it all, she keeps centred through her search for her true destiny, even as she lets go of her childhood dreams.
This novel is an uncompromising look at life in Early Canada, and recommended to young people and adults alike.
Lunn doesn't back down from portraying the rough life of Canada in 1815, the claustrophobia of trees, trees, trees against the effort to clear a space for people to live. Mary settles into a community of Loyalists, who lost everything when they fled the States during the Revolution, and she gets involved in their pain while she is processing her own grief. It's a life of hard work and sacrifice, and Mary's youth does not exempt her from the worst of it. Through it all, she keeps centred through her search for her true destiny, even as she lets go of her childhood dreams.
This novel is an uncompromising look at life in Early Canada, and recommended to young people and adults alike.
October 27, 2013
This book reminded me of why I often prefer children's books to adult books. Even when the characters undergo challenges and heartache, they're just somehow more uplifting than so many adult books, especially "classics" which a lot of the time seem to be about people slowly mentally disintegrating.
Favourite quote:
"My heart can never truly leave those hills, Luke. I know I must live with that sadness but I know that I do not have to live as though burdened by a heavy cloak soaked in rain. I can wear the burden lightly because I chose both the sadness and the joy." (214)
Favourite quote:
"My heart can never truly leave those hills, Luke. I know I must live with that sadness but I know that I do not have to live as though burdened by a heavy cloak soaked in rain. I can wear the burden lightly because I chose both the sadness and the joy." (214)
November 3, 2013
One of my favorite books when I was in grade six. I remember feeling actually frightened about what could happen to the main character.
July 8, 2014
One of my favorite books in grade school/junior high. It was very interesting to read about the contrast between life in mid-1800's Scotland and Canada. I always assumed that the settlers brought their own ways with them, but Mary soon finds that her clothes are wrong, her way of working is wrong, and she doesn't have the skills she needs for life on the Canadian frontier. Also, what do you do when you've traveled across an ocean for someone, and they aren't there when you arrive? Her aunt and uncle and cousins are gone, and she doesn't have the money to go home, so she has no choice but to make a life for herself in this foreign land. Lots of fascinating details, great characters, and romance!
September 12, 2023
This is my near perfect book combo for sure: plucky female main character, a little magic, a little romance, historical (Canadian is an extra bonus). Such a lovely little read - glad this one held up as it was a “reread from childhood” choice.
September 17, 2025
A classic
August 11, 2012
A story of how a young woman comes to find herself. A nice love story. A nice family history. It's one of those I like to reread every few years. I would say 11/12 and up due to matter-of-fact sexual innuendo involving secondary characters. Also deals with suicide. Read it before letting your kids under 13 read it.
February 5, 2018
This was a beautiful read. A 'sensitive' girl, Mary Urquhart lives in beautiful Scotland with her loving family, but she still feels left behind. Her other half, her cousin Duncan, has emigrated to Canada with his family, and the bond they shared is severed. She is missing part of her soul. One day she feels him calling her, and she is compelled to follow his voice, though she understands she may never see her family again. She hikes out on her own, and is supported by friends and strangers along the way. When she arrives to Canada she recognizes it as a darker place. A wild darkness, full of unearthly creatures entirely unrelated to the ones back home. They are not her kin, not her calling. But nonetheless to tries her best to build a home under the shadows.
* The descriptors in this book are beautiful.
* I don't know how I feel about Luke as a romantic interest. Her future with him feels bleak. Hopefully he doesn't turn into his own father.
* When I read stories about these early immigration's to Canada, I always can't help but feel that they should have stayed behind, with their loved ones and known soil under their feet. But that's just the coward in me.
* This got dark. Later when I've read it a second time, I'll explore Lunn's use of this darkness.
* The descriptors in this book are beautiful.
* I don't know how I feel about Luke as a romantic interest. Her future with him feels bleak. Hopefully he doesn't turn into his own father.
* When I read stories about these early immigration's to Canada, I always can't help but feel that they should have stayed behind, with their loved ones and known soil under their feet. But that's just the coward in me.
* This got dark. Later when I've read it a second time, I'll explore Lunn's use of this darkness.
March 28, 2019
Teenage Mary, back in Scotland, feels haunted by guilty un-cousinly feelings for her cousin Douglas in Canada. Mary has "the second sight," a condition that sounds like what we'd call migraines, where she seems to see into the future before having terrible headaches. Is Douglas's spirit really calling hers to join him in Canada...or is an evil spirit trying to lead her into danger...or is she working out guilty feelings that will subside when she grows up and finds a man she can marry? Meanwhile, since even in Canada she can't marry Douglas, what will she do with her life? Lunn leaves us freedom to decide what we believe, while making clear what Mary believes. This is a plausible, family-friendly teen romance of the early nineteenth century. Though not keen on the genre, I found it an enjoyable one-time read.
July 3, 2023
Shadow in Hawthron Bay takes place in the 1800s and is a story about a young girl, a seer, that leaves her home in scotland in search of her cousin Duncan, who's voice she heard calling her from canada. It's a tough journey there but eventually she makes it, only to find her family is no longer there. And so with the hospitality and help of the neighborhood, she learns to settle in as she deals with an evil her cousin left behind that no one else can see or hear and the claims that she may be crazy because they don't understand her powers.
Actual rating: 3.5/5
This is a good story. It was hard to get into due to the unfamiliar writing style and the fact that the first half of the book is a bit slow and boring. In the second half the story gets going, the pace quickens and it's quite enjoyable.
6/10 would recommend
Actual rating: 3.5/5
This is a good story. It was hard to get into due to the unfamiliar writing style and the fact that the first half of the book is a bit slow and boring. In the second half the story gets going, the pace quickens and it's quite enjoyable.
6/10 would recommend
July 26, 2017
A teenage girl from Scotland with psychic abilities hears a voice that leads her to travel to Canada in 1815. There, she finds herself abandoned by the people she thought welcome her. She then has to make her way in an isolated foreign wilderness. This classic of Canadian children's lit can be enjoyed by all who appreciate good historical fiction.
October 19, 2018
This book has always been one of my favourites. The themes are awesome and the entirety of the small series is just all encompassing and there are so many things in this book that I wish I had the time to expand on them all.
All I can say is to read this book because you won't regret it in the least.
All I can say is to read this book because you won't regret it in the least.
July 18, 2017
I expected so little from it, but it was so much better than that. Also, at times, this book was really scaaaaaary.
May 5, 2020
Nostalgi. Läste den när jag var i 12-årsåldern och det var fint att läsa den igen 30 år senare.
September 7, 2020
This along with The Root Cellar were my favourite books as a kid. Janet Lunn made me love time travel.
December 3, 2022
Read together with my 10 Year Old. Some mature scenes, but overall good! She gives it 4.5⭐️.
November 15, 2024
Its been a long time since i read this book I remember like it was yesterday!
January 2, 2026
A lovely and haunting sometimes story.
January 26, 2016
This is a strange novel. I've never read anything quite like it although the atmosphere of the novel reminded me faintly of Wuthering Heights.
The winner of several Canadian awards for children's literature, Shadow in Hawthorn Bay is set in 1815 Scotland and Upper Canada. Fifteen-year-old Mary Urquhart sees visions from the future and hears voices. When she hears the voice of her first cousin, Duncan, calling to her from Canada, she leaves Scotland and makes the sea voyage to Canada to be with him. She wants to be with him the rest of her life, never separated again, but when she arrives in Canada, she discovers Duncan is dead.
Life in 1800s Canada is hard, and Mary longs to go back to Scotland but needs to earn money to pay for her return trip. The local people try to help her and themselves by hiring her for odd jobs. However, her constant stories about little people, fairies, goatmen, and so on set everyone on edge. The locals don't know what to make of Mary's "second sight" or stories. She doesn't understand how they can be so clueless about such things.
Despite her oddities, a local man, Luke, falls in love with her and asks her to marry him. Mary must choose whether to follow the continued calls of Duncan, return to Scotland, or remain in Canada and marry Luke.
As a modern-day reader, I couldn't help wondering whether Mary had a form of schizophrenia. The novel seemed well-researched and historically accurate, so maybe early Scottish immigrants really did believe in fairies, ghosts, creatures that were part-human and part-beast, and so on. I know my Norwegian ancestors similarly spoke of trolls and told the story, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," so maybe it was common for some European groups to bring beliefs and tell stories that struck other ethnic groups as peculiar.
Whatever the case, the novel makes for an interesting historical read, especially with the sea voyage to Canada and the glimpse of life in Canada after the loyalists fled from the Yankees in the lower American colonies.
The winner of several Canadian awards for children's literature, Shadow in Hawthorn Bay is set in 1815 Scotland and Upper Canada. Fifteen-year-old Mary Urquhart sees visions from the future and hears voices. When she hears the voice of her first cousin, Duncan, calling to her from Canada, she leaves Scotland and makes the sea voyage to Canada to be with him. She wants to be with him the rest of her life, never separated again, but when she arrives in Canada, she discovers Duncan is dead.
Life in 1800s Canada is hard, and Mary longs to go back to Scotland but needs to earn money to pay for her return trip. The local people try to help her and themselves by hiring her for odd jobs. However, her constant stories about little people, fairies, goatmen, and so on set everyone on edge. The locals don't know what to make of Mary's "second sight" or stories. She doesn't understand how they can be so clueless about such things.
Despite her oddities, a local man, Luke, falls in love with her and asks her to marry him. Mary must choose whether to follow the continued calls of Duncan, return to Scotland, or remain in Canada and marry Luke.
As a modern-day reader, I couldn't help wondering whether Mary had a form of schizophrenia. The novel seemed well-researched and historically accurate, so maybe early Scottish immigrants really did believe in fairies, ghosts, creatures that were part-human and part-beast, and so on. I know my Norwegian ancestors similarly spoke of trolls and told the story, "The Three Billy Goats Gruff," so maybe it was common for some European groups to bring beliefs and tell stories that struck other ethnic groups as peculiar.
Whatever the case, the novel makes for an interesting historical read, especially with the sea voyage to Canada and the glimpse of life in Canada after the loyalists fled from the Yankees in the lower American colonies.
August 11, 2013
HAUNTED IN THE NEW WOLRD BY HER DARK COUSIN
This dark fantasy does not approach Lunn's superb THE ROOT CELLAR, but proves an interesting read all the same. Two cousins in 19th century Scotland, born the same week, grow up inseparable. Despite their different temperaments and appearance, Mairi and Duncan are two halves of one coin; they vow at age 11 to remain of couple for ever. Then Duncan's family decides to emigrate to Upper Canada, a move which threatens to tear assunder the unique bond that links their destinies. When the story opens, Mairi has agonized for four years; can their devotion to each other triumph over ocean, time, distance and death itself?
Mairi endures the incredible hardships of emigrant travel, as she struggles on her personal quest alone. She has sacficed everything she knows and loves to be reunited with Duncan. Unfortunately, the folks in Hawthorn Bay on the St. Lawrence River first treat her as a heroine, then as slightly daft, but they ultimately consider her suspicious. With her spirit talk and dire predictions, even the children turn against her. Will she be branded as a witch in this Puritannical New World? Persecuted by worse than ignorant colonists, Mairi realizes that she herself is being stalked by malevolence--using Duncan's voice to lure her to disaster. She is terrified of the forest, yet morbidly attracted to a special flat rock which is linked with Duncan's disappearnce. After her physical and emotional pilgrimmage, how far must she travel to ultimately join him? Which path will she choose to meet her beloved? A mysterious read about a brave young woman who yearns to control her own destiny.
This dark fantasy does not approach Lunn's superb THE ROOT CELLAR, but proves an interesting read all the same. Two cousins in 19th century Scotland, born the same week, grow up inseparable. Despite their different temperaments and appearance, Mairi and Duncan are two halves of one coin; they vow at age 11 to remain of couple for ever. Then Duncan's family decides to emigrate to Upper Canada, a move which threatens to tear assunder the unique bond that links their destinies. When the story opens, Mairi has agonized for four years; can their devotion to each other triumph over ocean, time, distance and death itself?
Mairi endures the incredible hardships of emigrant travel, as she struggles on her personal quest alone. She has sacficed everything she knows and loves to be reunited with Duncan. Unfortunately, the folks in Hawthorn Bay on the St. Lawrence River first treat her as a heroine, then as slightly daft, but they ultimately consider her suspicious. With her spirit talk and dire predictions, even the children turn against her. Will she be branded as a witch in this Puritannical New World? Persecuted by worse than ignorant colonists, Mairi realizes that she herself is being stalked by malevolence--using Duncan's voice to lure her to disaster. She is terrified of the forest, yet morbidly attracted to a special flat rock which is linked with Duncan's disappearnce. After her physical and emotional pilgrimmage, how far must she travel to ultimately join him? Which path will she choose to meet her beloved? A mysterious read about a brave young woman who yearns to control her own destiny.
December 30, 2025
I thought the Canadian historical fiction YA I read growing up was intense but oh my gosh they didn’t hold their punches in the 80s! This book had suicide and assault and dead babies galore! And the MC was just 16!!!!! Anyways I loved it.
November 6, 2014
Mairi has a special burden--the second sight. She can see sometimes the past, sometimes the future and when she's 15, she hears her cousin and childhood friend calling for help all the way to Scotland from Upper Canada. Mairi has to go help.
The journey is hard and long and leaves her destitute. She finds kind people who help her as she tries to come to terms with her cousin's relentless calling for help in Mairi's mind.
The people in this book are lovely. Luke, Mairi's first acquaintance in the area, helps her find a place to stay and looks after her in a way. His family is sad and struggles and has it's own problems, which only adds to Luke's compassion and character.
The journey is hard and long and leaves her destitute. She finds kind people who help her as she tries to come to terms with her cousin's relentless calling for help in Mairi's mind.
The people in this book are lovely. Luke, Mairi's first acquaintance in the area, helps her find a place to stay and looks after her in a way. His family is sad and struggles and has it's own problems, which only adds to Luke's compassion and character.
November 5, 2021
Content warning for suicide, death of baby, near-deaths of children, rape (not described in depth, but mentioned/implied).
Re-read review: I remember liking this a _whole_ lot as a kid, but as an adult, reading this aloud to another adult, I'm not fully convinced. Maybe because it was my wife I was reading aloud to, who likes books with lots of action. That, this is not. But it is a complex portrait of what would've been a pretty intense journey for a young woman by herself.
Re-read review: I remember liking this a _whole_ lot as a kid, but as an adult, reading this aloud to another adult, I'm not fully convinced. Maybe because it was my wife I was reading aloud to, who likes books with lots of action. That, this is not. But it is a complex portrait of what would've been a pretty intense journey for a young woman by herself.
June 6, 2016
A little slow at the beginning but it definitely picks up. Mary Urquhart is not a likeable character at first - naive, moody, selfish, and narrow minded. However, Lunn does a beautiful job of developing Mary and by the end of the book one cannot help but root for her to find her happily ever after. In some ways, this is just another story of a silly girl chasing after the wrong man who does not deserve her but in others it is much more than that, and it is definitely worth the read.
July 19, 2009
Mary in Scotland has a dream that her cousin Duncan needs her. Problem #1, he's in Canada. Problem #2, it's the 1800s so she can't just hop on a plane or call him - she has to get herself onto a boat for three or so months and keep her fingers crossed that he's still alive when she arrives! Interesting tale, that really shows the troubles of keeping in contact with people in times before ours.
September 29, 2011
This is a re-read of a book I loved in my youth. I decided to re-read it for research for the next novel I plan to write. Gorgeous writing, engaging story. Definitely more middle grade than YA. I remember it being very scary when I read it as a child, but definitely that wasn't the case now. It still didn't detract from my enjoyment of this fast read.
July 28, 2008
not half as good as it's precedent, The Hollow Tree. Uses witchcraft, if i recall right... i only skipped through it to see if the main charectors were the same. They werent.
i had ot atleast give it a two star, b/c of who it's author is. =)
i had ot atleast give it a two star, b/c of who it's author is. =)
April 25, 2015
Very well written, creepy and lovely at the same time. It really gets the dull, boring, side of living the pioneer life, as well as the poetry and excitement of starting something new at the same time. Definitely recommend.
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May 3, 2015It's been so many years since I read this book that I feel weird giving it a star rating without revisiting it - but I know I read it and re-read it many times in my youth. I even used it in a university essay.
February 26, 2009
I read this back in grade six. I remember liking it back then.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews