An Evocative, Melodious Story of Survival in Dundee
BEYOND THE BLUE
By Andrea MacPherson
Random House Canada
ISBN 978-0-679-31422-6
Reviewed by Sharon Greer
"Dundee was known as a 'woman's town' or 'she town' due to the dominance of women in the labour market. In the jute mills, women outnumbered men by three to one. A unique breed of women evolved from the hardship of life in the mills and the responsibility of being the main provider for the family," according to the Dundee Heritage Trust, Verdant Works and Beyond the Blue
Speaking eloquently and from the heart, Andrea MacPherson's latest novel, Beyond the Blue, is an evocative, melodious story of survival under impoverished, harsh conditions.
In 1918 the gloomy town of Dundee in Scotland is facing the end of the First World War. Emptied of its men, the place has been left in the hands of the women who toil in the grinding misery of the jute mill. (Jute is made from the fibre of two Asian plants, Corchorus capsularis and C. olitorus, used for making sacks and mats.)
Concentrating on the lives of one family struggling with the drudgery of life, the book dramatically demonstrates the hostile, dangerous environment of factory life. At the very beginning of MacPherson's narrative, the reader is immediately engaged in the horror of one split second of distraction.
A young woman has been caught in the ghoulish grips of a carding machine - one of many women over the years lost to the devouring jaws of the jute mill. "A sudden disaster of white and weight. A scream across the sky. It falls and falls, then disappears into the Tay."
Morag is a widow of the war, trying very hard to protect her two daughters, Wallis and Caro, and niece, Imogen, from the merciless grind of their bleak lives. Wallis works steadily in the mill beside her mother slowly building up her bank account with great expectations for a pivotal departure from not only Dundee, but Scotland itself. Of all the characters, hers carries the most hope.
The bonny Caro relies too heavily on her looks and makes the fatal mistake of so many women. She plots to escape her working class situation by very calculated means.
She intends to use seduction as a way out of her circumstances by attempting to entice the rich but married owner of the mill. But Caro is no match for him. She is too young and inexperienced to understand the complexities of the class structure.
Morag's niece, the radiant, fragile Imogen, is in a world of her own. She is probably the most touching and gentle of all the personalities. Sheltered all her life by family members, Imogen is naturally in constant search of answers to the tragedy of her mother's suicide and her father's subsequent abandonment. Even her father's eventual return can't completely heal her damaged soul.
MacPherson has created a lyrical woman's story filled with raw honesty, hope and the ever
present ghosts of the past. Her grandmother grew up in Dundee across the street from the
Bowbridge Works jute mill, where her own mother worked. This is her second novel. Her first one, When She Was Electric, was published in 2003. MacPherson lives in Cloverdale, B.C.
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