A Bird in the House, first published in 1970, is a short story sequence written by Margaret Laurence.[1][2] Noted by Laurence to be "semi-autobiographical",[3] the series chronicles the growing up of a young agnostic writer, Vanessa MacLeod, in the fictional town of Manawaka, Manitoba.[4] A Bird in the House was written from the perspective of Vanessa at age forty, while she recalls her childhood (with the exception of the final chapter Jericho's Brick Battlements, when she revisits her childhood home). It is therefore impossible to tell if young Vanessa was truly able to understand the events unfolding around her, or if she gained that understanding later in life. Originally published as a series of independent short stories,
- ^ Foster Stovel, Nora (spring 2006). "That house in Manawaka: Margaret Laurence's A Bird in the House: Review", The American Review of Canadian Studies 26 (1): 135.
- ^ Kertzer, Jon (1992). That house in Manawaka: Margaret Laurence's A Bird in the House. Toronto: ECW Press.
- ^ Foster Stovel, Nora (winter 1999/2000). "Mourning becomes Margaret: Laurence's farewell to fiction", Journal of Canadian Studies 34 (4): 105–21.
- ^ Tracy, Honor (April 19, 1970). "Growing up in Manawaka: A Bird in The House", The New York Times, p. 336.