Windows on the Street

R.G. Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta, the co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities:
British Views of Canada, 1880–1914, and the author of The Salvation
Army and the Public.

The “windows” in the title refers to the various ways the author
chooses to see his family. This richly textured history of MacDonald’s
family takes us from Ontario, to Paris, to Patagonia as it chronicles a
wealth of unusual experiences. Thanks to the author’s incomparable
storytelling abilities, the family takes on mythic qualities that lifts
his account beyond mere personal narrative. The episode “A Summer at
La Rochelle” is a good example: a not unusual mixup with French trains
lands MacDonald in La Rochelle, France, in an unexpected retreat from
the world that we all wish for but seldom find.

Windows on the Street is as enjoyable an excursion into family
relations, personal pleasures, travel, and friendship as one is likely
to find.