DANCING AT THE RASCAL FAIR

by Ivan Doig ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 18, 1987

The second installment of Doig's projected Montana trilogy (which began with English Creek, 1984): a moving, graceful story of two Scottish immigrants who homestead together but eventually become bitter rivals. Narrator Angus McCaskill (forerunner of young Jick McCaskill in English Creek) and his best friend, Rob Barclay, leave their sooty little Scottish town in 1889 and emigrate to Montana, hoping to find Rob's long-lost Uncle Lucas. Find him they do--high up in the mountains, in the little would-be town of Gros Ventre. Lucas has lost both hands in a mining accident and now owns a bar; he helps the boys get settled, start their home. steads in the valley that will come to be known as Scottish Heaven, and buy the sheep that will sustain them. Despite the brilliant scenery that surrounds them (beautifully described), Angus and Rob lead lives filled with turmoil--droughts, blizzards, raging fires, the great influenza epidemic of 1918. Angus falls deeply in love with schoolteacher Anna Ramsay, but she marries another; on the rebound, he marries Rob's sister Adair--they have a son, Varick--but he can't stop loving Anna, and contrives to see her (albeit chastely) whenever he can. This seeming betrayal of Adair so enrages Rob that he turns Varick against Angus. Angus then batters Rob to the ground in a fistfight, and their partnership is bitterly dissolved--until wise old Uncle Lucas dies and leaves them sheep they must care for in tandem. A gripping saga, with a wonderfully rugged and evocative Montana.

Pub Date: Sept. 18, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Atheneum

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1987

Categories: FICTION