On July 18, 1926, Margaret Laurence was born to Scottish father, Robert Wemyss, and Irish mother Verna Simpson Wemyss. They lived in Mrs. Wemyss' hometown of Neewapa, Manitoba, until Margaret's move to Winnipeg in 1944. Margaret was but 4 years old when her mother died of a kidney infection. It was at this point that her aunt came to care for her and later marry her father. They were shortly thereafter moved into Margaret's grandfathers home. Margaret found living with her grandfather to be a very difficult task, and much of her writing in "A Bird in the House" reflects her relationship with her grandfather using the character Vanessa and her rough, uncaring grandfather. Like Margaret, the character Vanessa is an aspiring writer who is faced with many obstacles in her life. The grandfather-granddaughter relationship is one of the most prominent aspects reflected from...