This is the story of Livvy Higgs, East Coaster and older woman reviewing the path of her life, written by an author known for the powerful writing and Atlantic Canada settings in her many novels. What is this one all about?
For two traumatic days, Livvy Higgs is besieged by a series of small heart attacks while the ghost of her younger self leads her back through a past devastated by lies and secrets.
The story opens in Halifax in 2009, travels back to the French Shore of Newfoundland during the mid-thirties and the heyday of the Maritime shipping industry, makes its way to wartorn Halifax during the battle of the Atlantic in World War II, then leaps ahead to the bedside of the elder Livvy.
In The Deception of Livvy Higgs, the inimitable Morrissey has written a powerful tale, the Stone Angel of the East Coast.
Morrissey has said that this book was inspired by the life of a former neighbour, but the fashion of writing books from the perspective of elderly women looking back and taking stock of their long lives seems to be a noticeable trend in Canadian fiction. For some examples held by our library, check out this Bibliocommons list, Ladies Looking Back.
You can watch Morrissey being interviewed quite recently, on Global Halifax, shortly after this book was nominated for an Atlantic Book Award:
To get to know Morrissey a bit better, read this lengthy article about her run-in with anxiety, panic attacks and phobias,sparked by a doctor (wrongly) telling her that she had tetanus and had six months to live. Her strong personality really comes through!
Don’t forget, if you read this book as part of SPL’s STARR Summer Reading program, you can claim 2 stamps on your Rewards Card, and also be eligible to vote during Ontario Public Library Week, October 20-26, to choose the winner of the Evergreen™ Award!
Don’t forget, if you read this book as part of SPL’s STARR Summer Reading program, you can claim 2 stamps on your Rewards Card, and also be eligible to vote during Ontario Public Library Week, October 20-26, to choose the winner of the Evergreen™ Award!
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