by Cathryn_Conroy: This is a profound and deeply felt character-driven novel that is a heartbreaking exploration of dysfunctional family life when there is little love and even less money.
Brilliantly written by Douglas Stuart, this is the story of the Macleod family, sheep farmers on the remote and desolate island of Falabay on the west coast of mainland Scotland. It is the 1990s. Life is hard. The weather is hard. Making a living wage is hard. John-Calum, Cal for short, has been called back to the island after a stint in art school on the mainland that left him in massive debt with no hope for a job.
Cal’s father, John, lives with his mother-in-law, Ella, in a croft tending sheep and weaving tweed. John is deeply religious, serving as a deacon in the local and very strict Free Presbyterian church, which may soon be closed because it only has 26 members. John’s wife left him years ago and is now living with John’s brother with whom she has three children. Ella, Cal’s grandmother, owns the croft. She is cantankerous, swears a lot, and loves Cal, which is why she stayed when her daughter left.
Cal arrives home with ragged clothing, long hair, a grudge against the church, and a bad attitude. There is little for him to do and no way to make money. He is bored and very, very lonely. But he stays because it’s his duty and he knows it.
And there are secrets…life-changing secrets that both Cal and John keep from each other: Both are gay and neither knows this about the other, although we readers are privy to it. Ella has a bombshell secret she has kept for decades, and if she ever reveals it, it will stun the family.
Meanwhile, the bonds between Cal and John are pulled tight to bursting…until just one of these deep, dark secrets is finally revealed in an ending that offers redemption and hope for the future.
Most of all, this absorbing and emotionally gripping novel is about the truth of the human condition: How can we be our genuine self, true and whole if the repressive society in which we live will only reject us?
This is not an easy book to read simply because it is so deeply sad and disheartening, but this literary masterpiece has a vitally important, albeit haunting and almost blistering, message.
