Through the voices of vivid characters, witty and moving dialogue, and poetically drawn landscapes and seascapes, Margaret Duley created a Newfoundland stage upon which she explored existential and universal questions. Duley won international recognition with four novels, and though lauded by leading critics abroad, her appreciation at home was comparatively muted. In her native St. John’s, Duley’s strong female protagonists prompted speculation and gossip about her own life as a single, questioning woman.

Skillfully interwoven with historical events, including the devastating impact of the first World War, the women’s suffrage movement, the Depression, the loss of Newfoundland’s self-government, and Confederation with Canada, Extraordinary Passages explores the influence of these critical times on Duley’s life and writing. Within these pages, Margaret Duley is freed from flattened descriptions of her as a wealthy jeweller’s daughter, unearthing the origins of her lifelong search for a fairer society and her deep appreciation for her island home. Disillusioned with Christian institutions that had justified war and entrapped women, she sought new answers at home and abroad in her search for spirituality, feminism, and anti-militarism.

Margot I. Duley is an historian and Margaret’s niece. Reflecting on personal knowledge, novels, letters, and a wide array of other sources, Margot I. Duley draws a lively portrait of the brilliant, complex and indomitable woman regarded as a precursor to modern feminist writers.

"A fascinating glimpse into the life of a literary trailblazer in the context of twentieth-century Newfoundland."

- Anita Best

“Margot Duley…follows in her aunt’s footsteps, blending erudition and a gift for crafting a riveting story. [This] biography provides intimate insights into the shaping of a writer who never let church, empire, and patriarchy dampen her feminist, ani-war spirit.”

- Carol Bruneau, Atlantic Books Today

“No one who reads this masterpiece will ever doubt Margaret Duley’s well-earned place of honour in the Newfoundland literary canon.”

- Bert Riggs

"In this vivid and sensitive portrayal, Duley combines historical research, literary analysis, and family lore to trace the life of an important Newfoundland writer. In doing so she also tells a tale of the island Margaret Duley loved and the currents that buffeted it throughout the tumultuous twentieth century."

- Amy Shaw, University of Lethbridge

"At once analytical and personal, this engaging study of Margaret Duley’s life and writing is a biography of great breadth and depth."

- Terry Bishop-Stirling