Mary Lawson, the Canadian Novelist, was born on a farm in small community in southwestern Ontario.  It must have been an extremely small community because no biography actually names the town.  One website states that she spent her childhood in Blackwell, Ontario, but it does not say that she was born there.   One article that was written by Judy Stoffman, and entertainment reporter for the Star.com, in 2006, said that a place called Muldrew Lake, near Gravenhurst is where Mary’s grandfather had built a family cottage, that she still visits today with her grown sons.  Mary writes about it in her book, Crow Lake, but gives it a fictional name, in that book.  It would be easy to conclude that wherever Mary was born, must have been a very rural setting that did not have a formal name.  Life there must have been isolating but inspiring, because Mary did not start writing until she was in her fifties, and still that place is the subject of two of her books.  Since she has lived in England for over 30 years, but is focused on the past, it must have been a pivotal part of who she has become today.