About the book

Author: MacPhail, Margaret, 1887-1976

Title: Loch Bras d’Or

Publication: Windsor, N.S. : Lancelot Press, 1970. ISBN number not available.

DAISY audio format narrated by Mary Delaney. CELA library call number DA45504. 163 pages in the paper edition; 6 hrs., 46 mins. as a recorded book.

About the story

Why did I enjoy this book? The narrator, Mary Delaney: she was superb!

The book itself is chronicles two families in the Cape Breton of the 1880s, one Protestant and the other Catholic (Barra). It’s an ode to the people and the land of this Cape Breton area in the 1880s.

When his exhausted mother dies in childbirth, young Hamish is sent to live with the McNabs. Though not Catholic, they are fine upstanding people and very well-respected in the community. The story that follows is one of poverty and unending toil, strong religion, betrothals and wakes. It’s the story of the old world making way for the new, brought in by the young returning from Boston. It ties the resilient Cape Breton settlers to the Highlanders who emigrated, tracing the first and second generation, celebrating their accomplishments, their joys and their sorrows, their hard and unceasing work.

As a story, I found it a bit too religious and a bit hard to follow, cast-of-characters-wise. At times, it seemed more exposition than fiction, in fact. But this is where the narrator absolutely shines! She uses and defines the Gaelic words so fluently and naturally that it seems like she is discussing familiar concepts with a friend. Not for her the awkward recitation of quoted songs—she actually takes the time to look up the melody (Wild Colonial Boy, in this instance the air was provided) and to set the words to it. What a treat! And she has a lovely singing voice.

As the (also sung!) epilogue on the life of the “authoress” explains, Margaret MacPhail came to Loch Bras D’Or as a young girl and wrote the book when she was 83 (it was published in 1970). While not exactly a memoir, it has a very real lived-experience feeling to it and is very much a novel about a time and a place, with people added in to carry the plot along some. McPhail must have written more books, because the Toronto Public Library also lists by the same author The girl from Loch Bras d’Or (1973) and The bride of Loch Bras d’Or (1974). She passed away in 1976.

I’m not sure why the CNIB decided to produce the talking book in 2014, but I’m glad they did, and even gladder that they selected Mary Delaney to narrate it. I’ve become a fan!

Recommended?

Recommended for Delaney’s truly outstanding narration. Not sure I would have read it in paper format.

A view of the Bras d’Or lake in Nova Scotia, courtesy of the Library of Congress.