Island

Part of the inaugural Kanata Classics list, with a new introduction by Kate Beaton, Island is a collection of stories that captures the soul of the east coast and proves Alistair MacLeod is a master of the craft.

A book-besotted patriarch releases his only son from the obligations of the sea. A father provokes his young son to violence when he reluctantly sells the family horse. A passionate girl who grows up on a nearly deserted island turns into an ever-wistful woman when her one true love is felled by a logging accident. A dying young man listens to his grandmother play the old Gaelic songs on her ancient violin as they both fend off the inevitable.

The events that propel… Keep Reading