Andrew Ladd — What Ends

Oneworld Publications 2014 Paperback 272 In 1980, the McCloud family welcomes Trevor, their third child and the last to be born on Eilean Fìor, a small island off the west coast of Scotland. Life there, on the eve of Trevor’s birth, is grim: the population, once in the hundreds, now hovers around thirty, as most of the island’s inhabitants have left for the mainland. But the McClouds stubbornly maintain their guesthouse, despite their trouble turning a profit and their children’s lack of interest in taking over the family business. As soon as he is of age Barry – the eldest son – flees the island, abandoning his siblings and rejecting the culture and traditions he was brought up with. After Flora, the only daughter, finishes art school, she returns to Eilean Fìor, resigned to her familial responsibilities. By the time Trevor is grown up, there is no place for ambivalence as the forces of time lock the McClouds into their way of life and out of any other. Very Good