Set in Toronto in the early 1970's when women's empowerment was on the rise, Joanne tells of self-realization and self-sufficiency after eighteen years of a gradually deteriorating marriage. Joanne is being treated like an old boot, and this story, written in her diary, delves into the heat of emotions and all the usual problems of lawyers, division of property, disposal of the house, finding a job, handling the overbearing mother-in-law, and the unusual kidnapping of her children. This crisis precipitates a chain of events which lead to the discovery that a happy life is not only possible, but sometimes easier, without a husband.

Marian Engel (1933-1985) published her first novel, No Clouds of Glory, in 1968. Engel's Bear, a tale of erotic love between a librarian and a bear, won the Governor General's Literary award in 1976. Joanne: The Last Days of a Modern Marriage was originally commissioned in 1973 as a radio-novel by CBC for the program This Country in the Morning and was later adapted to print.

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