Crow Lake

The novel, Crow Lake, by Mary Lawson portrays a family that suffers from the great tragedy of when the Morrison parents are unexpectedly killed in an automobile accident. This tragedy created a great change of lifestyle to the seven year old protagonist, Kate Morrison, her older brothers, Luke and Matthew, and her younger sister, Bo. After the accident, the remaining of the Morrison family greatly attempts to prevent the family to be separated and sent to relatives. This novel is wisely written and very compelling, it greatly relates to the children who are experiencing bereavement, and provides an excellent study of the effects of deaths of parents.

The novel begins with Kate, twenty years after the death of her parents, with a career as a scientist, which was once the dream of her brother Matthew. The young protagonist informs the readers that she recently received a letter from Matthew, inviting her to join the eighteenth birthday of her nephew, Simon. After the invitation, Kate begins to have flashbacks about the past, to when her parents recently passed away.

The ways of how the deaths of the Morrison parents influenced Kate and her family, is very similar to how bereaved children in reality is affected. Lawson made an excellent connection between the children of the Morrison family to the children experiencing bereavement in the modern society. Within the novel, the protagonist and her family experienced rage, and separation anxiety after the devastating accident, and these effects are one of the most common effects that bereaved children experience at the present moment.