Cradling the Past a Biography of Margaret Shaw

Madelaine Shaw Wong and her mother, Margaret Shaw, offer a remarkable and heart-wrenching account of the life of an Alberta woman. The stories recount Margaret's poverty stricken childhood during the great depression, her struggle for acceptance in a convent boarding school, and her experiences as a teacher in one-room schools in rural Alberta during World War II. 

The stories also tell of the difficulties she encountered in raising a large family. When it was found that two of her children were afflicted with autism, her job became especially difficult. 

Though the physical and emotional pain eventually took their toll, Margaret's dogged determination in the face of so much adversity is inspiring.

Cradling the Past gives us a taste of Canadian history from the perspective of one individual, but this is more than the story of one woman. It is the story of a generation of people who endured much hardship to make Alberta and Canada what it is today.