The Violent Years of Maggie MacDonald

Caroline M. Hallsworth is a librarian at Cambrian College in Sudbury.

The watershed in Maggie MacDonald’s life was the November 5, 1965 stabbing of her common-law husband “Sneezy” Snary. Only nine months previously, she had been acquitted of murdering another common-law husband, “Soup” Campbell.

While MacDonald committed two acts of violence, they occurred in the context of a life in which she was victimized by poverty, neglect, and abuse. MacDonald’s autobiography exposes the horrors of family violence and the inability of professionals to intervene effectively in these troubled lives.

MacDonald, assisted by Allan Gould, writes clearly and with courage of the years leading up to 1965. Unfortunately, the book loses momentum as she describes her time in the Kingston Prison for Women and the text becomes somewhat repetitive. The conclusion of the book is rather abrupt and we are left wondering how MacDonald coped with her re-entry into society.

Despite its flaws, MacDonald’s book provides many insights into a problem which continues to plague our society.