![]() ![]() They each decide to establish a homestead and they both take up sheep ranching. Eventually these two resourceful young men find themselves in Gros Ventre, a fictional town in north-central Montana, on the edge of the Rockies, near the Canadian border. The story begins in the 1880s on the docks of Greenock, Scotland and Angus and his closest friend are facing the trepidation of leaving the only world they know, to find a relative in in Montana –and begin life anew. My Impressions: This is a novel of the American experience on the frontier at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century – beautifully and simply written, in the straightforward style of Hemingway, or Steinbeck (but different – perhaps a bit more literary.) The novel is written in the first person from the perspective of Angus McCaskill a young man from Scotland who emigrates to America. I mentioned that I wanted to read some more of him, and they both suggested Dancing at the Rascal Fair as one of his best. They had each read nearly all of his books. A couple of months ago, I overheard a couple of my friends from the National Outdoor Leadership School discussing Ivan Doig – he had just died. ![]() Why this book: I had read and really liked a couple of Ivan Doig’s other books – Heart Earth and This House of Sky – both beautifully written autobiographical accounts of his childhood and young adulthood in Montana in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. ![]()
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