CBC.ca reports that Carol Shields’ family and friends gathered in a Winnipeg park on Monday for an official sod-turning ceremony, kicking off the creation of a garden labyrinth in the author’s honour. When it is completed, the maze will be a free attraction in King’s Park.

Shields was known to be fascinated by labyrinths, and the main character in Larry’s Party builds mazes.

The memorial labyrinth, to be circular and about 45 metres in width, will incorporate hedges used by the character Larry in the book, including caragana, spirea, cotoneaster, hedge maple, boxwood, holly and barberry.

It also will include limestone and some of the flowers Shields refers to in another novel, The Stone Diaries, such as lilacs, crocuses, sweet William, bleeding heart, campanula, poppies, dahlias and daisies….

“Her spirit is just leading us through this and we feel it all the time,” said co-ordinator Anne Nesbitt told CBC Arts Online.

Fans with no sense of direction will have to hope Shields’ spirit will also guide us out if we get lost in the labyrinth.