The Diviners
First edition | |
| Author | Margaret Laurence |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | McClelland and Stewart |
Publication date | 1974 |
| Publication place | Canada |
| Media type | Print (Paperback and Hardback) |
| Pages | 382 |
| Preceded by | A Bird in the House |
The Diviners is a novel by Margaret Laurence. Published by McClelland & Stewart in 1974, it was Laurence's final novel, and the last in her five-volume Manawaka cycle. It is considered a classic of Canadian literature and won the Governor General's Award for Fiction in 1974.
While the tone of the novel is spiritual and life-affirming, it also deals with issues of race, sexuality, class, poverty, and abortion, and contains strong language. As a result, challenges by religious and/or conservative groups have been constant, but these disputes galvanized authors, librarians, teachers, publishers, and booksellers to champion the book, and led to the formation of Freedom to Read Week.