The Comfort of Stone is a collection of finely crafted free verse and lyrical poems that trace the author’s intimate recollections of her life experience and family history. The old stories told around the kitchen table become reality as personal journeys take Groundwater home to the historic landscapes of the Orkney Islands and the Scottish Highlands. Later, memories of a childhood immigration to Canada become touching and evocative poems set in “the new world.”

As more pages of this amazing collection turn, Groundwater shares events in her life that readers may recognize as part of their own passages through adulthood and aging. This unique reading experience is woven together in a tapestry of images from the natural world which will at once delight and provoke thought and reflection.

Marie Groundwater (Pottle) was born in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, and came to Canada as a child. She is sure that a treasured family heritage of music, laughter, and a hundred stories told around the kitchen table, made her a writer.

Many of the poems Marie has written have been published in Canadian anthologies. Additionally, she previously enjoyed coauthoring two books of poetry, A Thousand Yellow Leaves (“Adventurous in style and exquisite in effect” - Judith Fitzgerald) and Tongues Of Whitewashed Stone (“A delightful collection” - Alistair MacLeod).

An engaging reader and speaker, Marie has read her work at universities, cultural centres, libraries, and bookstores. A teacher for many years, she hopes to have passed on her love of literature and drama to her students.

Marie presently lives with her husband, Bruce, in Kingsville, Ontario, Canada, on the shore of Lake Erie.