April 21 1923. The SS Metagama is inching out of Stornoway harbor Scotland. On board are
Finlay and Mairead young and hopeful destined for Detroit. On the other side of the Atlantic
the effects of the Great Depression are inescapable. Prejudice and division are rife and
though they remain bound by a shared past their lives soon diverge. In an adopted country that
is tense with both opportunity and loss can Mairead and Finlay keep their promises to one
another to look only forward and resist the constant pull of home? From the author of the
prize-winning As the Women Lay Dreaming comes a poignant and deeply evocative novel of the
20th-century emigrant experience in the New World. With lyrical prose and masterful
storytelling Murray paints a vivid portrait of the resilient Hebrideans-in-exile who struggled
between holding on and letting go.
