A Forest for Calum
Select Format
Select Condition 
Book Overview
Described through the eyes of teenager Roddie Gillies, Shean is a coal-mining town somewhere on the west coast of mid-20th-century Cape Breton when the Island was still a collection of relatively-isolated rural communities. This coming-of-age novel follows Roddie's Catholic schooldays, the development of his artistic talents with the encouragement of a nun, his adolescent capers and budding sexuality and summers spent at the race track.. Roddie lives with his grandfather, Calum Gillies, a Gaelic speaker and a carpenter who settled in Shean when the mines were booming. A quiet and stoic man, Calum and his aging friends illuminate the changing world around them: The loss of the mines, the strikes they endured, religious parochialism and a disappearing language. One of Calum's compatriots composes a poem in Gaelic commemorating miners passed. Assisted by Roddie and his friends, the men plant the poem--the 18 letters of the Gaelic alphabet corresponding to 18 different trees--an ill-fated forest of 400 trees to memorialize their disappearing life.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:1897009054
ISBN13:9781897009055
Release Date:January 2005
Publisher:Cape Breton University Press
Length:383 Pages
Weight:1.32 lbs.
Copyright © 2025 Thriftbooks.com
Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information | Cookie Policy | Cookie Preferences | Accessibility Statement
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
ThriftBooks ® and the ThriftBooks ® logo are registered trademarks of Thrift Books Global, LLC
