"When Finlay and Mairead board the SS Metagama in 1923 leaving the Scottish island of Lewis
for Canada their lives - along with those of the islanders they leave behind - are changed
forever. The pair are young filled with hope and bound together by a shared past even as
their lives will soon diverge on the other side of the Atlantic. From Toronto to Detroit they
face the realities of an uncaring industrial society. The effects of the Great Depression are
inescapable and prejudice and division are rife. Fate will bring them back together but not
before they are both transformed. In an adopted country that is tense with both opportunity and
loss social progress and violent backlash can Mairead and Finlay keep their promises to one
another to look only forward and resist the constant pull of home? 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"--Amazon.com.
