This author explores the complex relationship between people and landscape, particularly within the rugged setting of Cape Breton. His prose is often lyrical yet incisive, capturing the beauty and hardship of life. Through his writing, he delves into themes of identity, memory, and the profound influence of home on the spirit. His work offers a compelling invitation to contemplate the places we call home.
"Set against the unforgiving landscape of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, these stories are all concerned with the complexities and mysteries of the human heart. Steeped in memory and myth and washed in the brine and blood of the long battle with the land and the sea, they celebrate a passionate engagement with the natural world and a continuity of the generations in the face of transition in the face of love and loss."
The story of family, loyalty, and of the blood ties that bind us to the land from which our ancestors came.
Penelope Wain believes that her lover, Neil Macrae, has been killed while serving overseas under her father. That he died apparently in disgrace does not alter her love for him, even though her father is insistent on his guilt. What neither Penelope or her father knows is that Neil is not dead, but has returned to Halifax to clear his name. Hugh MacLennan’s first novel is a compelling romance set against the horrors of wartime and the catastrophic Halifax Explosion of December 6, 1917.