Mary Immaculate is just twelve years old the day she goes missing. Berry-picking in the woods near her village in outport Newfoundland, Mary has an encounter with something from another world. When she is finally found, Mary is taken to hospital in St. John’s, where her attending doctor makes the decision to adopt her out of poverty. Duley’s authentic portrayal of outport life sits in stark contrast to life in upper-level St. John’s, making this a novel as much about class distinction as it is a stunning narrative of a woman’s life in pre-Confederation Newfoundland. Originally published in 1939 to acclaim in Britain and the US, Cold Pastoral was the second novel by Margaret Duley, the acknowledged “first novelist” from Newfoundland.

Margaret Duley was born in 1894 in St. John's, Newfoundland and died in 1968. Her novels evoke the life of Newfoundland's coasts and are marked by strong female characters and, often, ghoulish humour. Duley is regarded as a precursor to modern ferminist writers. She received international recognition for her four novels, of which Cold Pastoral, first published in 1939, was the second.

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