Search Results: Returned 5 Results, Displaying Titles 1 - 5
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2014., General, McClelland & Stewart Call No: SC Fic MacL Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: "From the internationally celebrated author of 'No Great Mischief' comes a moving short story of three generations of men from a single family whose lives are forever altered by the long shadow of war. In the early morning hours of November 11, David MacDonald, a veteran of the Second World War, stands outside his Cape Breton home, preparing to attend what will likely be his last Remembrance Day parade. As he waits for the arrival of his son and grandson, he remembers his decision to go to war in desperation to support his young family. He remembers the horrors of life at the frontlines in Ortona, Italy, and then what happened in Holland when the Canadians arrived as liberators. He remembers how the war devastated his own family, but gave him other reasons to live. As the story unfolds, other generations enter the scene. What emerges is an elegant, life-affirming meditation on the bond between fathers and sons, "how the present always comes out of the past," and how even in the midst of tragedy and misfortune there exists the possibility for salvation. His first new short story in over a decade, Remembrance is a powerful reminder of why Alistair MacLeod is one of the most beloved storytellers of our time."--Publisher.
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2015., Xlibris Call No: SC Bio M165s Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: Son of a Highlander is the true story of the author, a third-generation Australian of Scottish Highland descent discovering his ancestral history over eight generations, from father to son. This is a search for authenticity of a verbal story handed down over a two-hundred-year period, along with a 1797 penny and a collection of photos and correspondence that are one hundred years old, which were from his late grandfathers old tattered leather case. The author descended from the Clan MacLeodClan meaning Children in Scottish Gaelic, Mac meaning son in Gaelic, and the Leod derived from the Viking era; it basically means children of the son of Leod. The family originated from a small two-acre semisubsistent existence on the Isle of Skye in far western Scotland. The Macleod Clan was once a warrior race that feuded with neighboring clans in the most bloodiest of warfare. A clan system of traditions and culture that lasted hundreds of years that eventually came to an end with the notorious Highland Clearance, whereby thousands of people were evicted from their lands and replaced by sheep. With the mass exodus of people, some forcibly left while others left in desperation. This book is the history of one Highland family who survived a dangerous sailing journey to Australia only to continue their struggle against adversity on foreign soil. A search for the whereabouts of a Gaelic-speaking great-great-grandfather to discover he was sent to an island off the Australian coast, where he eventually died and was buried in a paupers grave along with 8,500 souls, whose only crime was that they were poor. This book is a must read for anyone wishing to trace their own ancestral history. It will inspire you and encourage you toward your own personal voyage of discovery.
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2012., Adult, Nimbus Publishing Limited Call No: SC Fic Mac Availability:1 of 1 At Your Library Summary Note: The story is simple, seen through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy. As an adult he remembers the way things were back home on the farm on the west coast of Cape Breton. The time was the 1940s, but the hens and the cows and the pigs and the sheep and the horse made it seem ancient. The family of six children excitedly waits for Christmas and two-year-old Kenneth, who liked Halloween a lot, asks, "Who are you going to dress up as at Christmas? I think I'll be a snowman." They wait especially for their oldest brother, Neil, working on "the Lake boats" in Ontario, who sends intriguing packages of "clothes" back for Christmas. On Christmas Eve he arrives, to the delight of his young siblings, and shoes the horse before taking them by sleigh through the woods to the nearby church. The adults, including the narrator for the first time, sit up late to play the gift-wrapping role of Santa Claus.The story is simple, short and sweet, but with a foretaste of sorrow. Not a word is out of place. Matching and enhancing the text are black and white illustrations by Peter Rankin, making this book a perfect little gift.For readers from nine to ninety-nine, our classic Christmas story by one of our greatest writers.
