Crotal and White
The Corncrade and the Lysander
Reviewed by Sharma Krauskopf and rated 
Reviewed by Sharma Krauskopf and rated
A few years ago a friend on the Isle of Skye gave me a well-worn copy of The Corncrake and the Lysander and said, "If you really want to enjoy reading about the islands then this is the book." The paper back set on the shelf and gathered dust, as I just never seemed to get around to reading it. The last time I was in Glasgow I picked up a copy of Finlay J. Macdonalds Omnibus. It was only when I put it on the shelf that I realized it included the other book.
My curiosity was roused now that the small well-worn volume set side by side with the new fat beautiful Omnibus. The first page of the big book explained the author's radio talks were a regular delight and he had enjoyed a long and successful career as a BBC producer, and then a television director.
As I turned the pages of the first book I became surrounded by the Hebrides of the early 1900s as seen through the eyes of a small boy. The actual location is the Isle of Harris but it could be any Hebridean Island by changing names of some of the people and the place names in the folktales. The characters in this book jump to life with gentleness based on familiarity. I have met some of the people on the streets of Stornoway, in a B & B in Tarbert, or on the ferry trips. The most graphic similarity I found was when Finlay tells how the teenagers of Tarbert spend the evening trying to hide and carry on. If you have ever been on the streets of Stornoway between 4:00 - 6:00 PM on school nights you will know exactly what Tarbert was like. The teens and the drugs might be different but the behaviour is the same. No, these books are not about only the early 1900s. Many of today's island people are the same simple folk of Macdonald's novel .
One of the main underlying currents of the Omnibus books is how change did come to the island and the way the people coped with it. How socializing was changed by the introduction of the radio and the newspaper. How the advent of the car changed the patterns of the island life. One of the joys of Macdonald's books is how some "new fangled things were easily accepted and how some were not.
As Macdonald explains in the book:
There is an old Gaelic proverb which says that 'no man ever saw his own tree plantation grow' I'm sure that like most proverbs it has its equivalent in every language under the sun since all it's saying in effect is that subtle change and development are going on around us all the time, so gently that we don't notice them. I am not sure that - in any language - the proverb is valid any more, because accelerating technology can change an area of our environment overnight; and as environments change so habits and modes of life change, and 'tradition' which we used to think of as the mellowing harvest of sown experiences, is now giving way to that thing known as a 'a phase'. Distance and inaccessibility, and above all - that stretch of ocean known as the Minch, allowed the Outer Hebrides to cling on to their old ways, good and bad, their language, and the depth of their religious belief, long after the power houses of the cities had tended to send their waves of uniformity out over all but the remotest corners of the mainland."
Every one who reads this books will chuckle with delight at characters like Hector who advertises for a bride so he won't have to milk his cow. Cry with sadness at the necessity of butchering a pet sheep because there is no more food to eat. Be astounded when the school children won't use the new inside plumbing. Appreciate how superstition can move from generation to generation as exhibited in the tale of the haunted island.
Most of all the strength of this book is the honestly Finlay shows in how his feelings changed. How he became ashamed of his home after leaving for the big city of Tarbert. Then how as he wrote these books he came to appreciate "home" all over again. This is a rare book and one I will never forget. If we had five thistles I would give it those and more.
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