''Small Ceremonies'' is a 1976 novel by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

writer Carol Shields. The novel centres on Judith Gill, a university academic who is writing a biography of

Susanna Moodie Susanna Moodie (born Strickland; 6 December 1803 – 8 April 1885) was an English-born Canadian author who wrote about her experiences as a settler in Canada, which was a British colony at the time. Biography Susanna Moodie was born in Bungay, ...

, depicting a year in the life of her family. The novel has sometimes been described as a '' roman à clef'', as it was published around the same time as Shields' own real-life biography of Moodie and the protagonist's academic background closely resembled Shields's own. The novel won the Canadian Authors Association's annual award for fiction in 1977, and was shortlisted for the Books in Canada First Novel Award."Two writers to share award for first novels in Canada". ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'', March 29, 1977.

References

1976 Canadian novels Novels by Carol Shields Roman à clef novels {{Canada-novel-stub