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From the Alleghenies to the Hebrides: An Autobiography
Margaret Fay Shaw's life spans a century of change. Leaving home and school in Pennsylvania and Philadelphia aged 16, she crossed to Scotland to spend a year at school near Glasgow. It was there that her love for Scotland was born. After studying music in New York and Paris, she returned to live for six years with two sisters in South Uist. Life on the island had changed l
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Paperback
,
150 pages
Published
June 1st 2008
by Birlinn Ltd
(first published April 7th 1994)
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Community Reviews
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This autobiography, with one anecdote after another in shot-gun style, is a delight. The author, born in 1903 and raised in Pennsylvania, went to Scotland to live with a relative after her parents died. She fell in love with the country and after working in New York for awhile, she eventually returned to Scotland to live on South Uist, an island in the Outer Hebrides. An accomplished musician, she learned Gaelic and began collecting traditional Gaelic folksongs. She met and married, John Lorne C
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"A miniature masterpiece," says the Times Literary Supplement. This no-nonsense woman forged her own way and reminds me of some older women I greatly respect. There's nothing overblown or self serving here, as is often the case with an autobiography.
I found this book in the South Uist holiday cottage I spent a week in and read it in one sitting on a rainy day. American Margaret Fay Shaw is a bit of a local hero. In the thirties she came to live on the island and collected previously unrecorded folksong and folklore. CShe married land owner and fleow folklorist Jogn Lorne Campbell. Although she had money, and was in a privileged position to make her collection, her contribution to the music, folklore and reputation of the island itself canno
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A beautifully told life-story and a fascinating look at Hebridean life and tradition in harder times. A delightful little read.
Some interesting anecdotes, but like her life it seems, it jumps around from place to place and rarely settles into a story of any sort.
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