Cape Breton Road

Edward L. Edmonds is a professor of education at the University of
Prince Edward Island and an honorary chief of the Mi’kmaq of Prince
Edward Island.

Set in Cape Breton, this first novel by D.R. MacDonald is about a
troubled young man, Innis Corbett, who, after getting involved with
stealing some cars in Boston, gets deported back to his rural Nova
Scotian community. He moves in with his bachelor Uncle Starr. Feeling
bored and lonely, Innis devises a plan to grow marijuana. Just as he
begins to adjust to his new life, however, a female joins his uncle’s
household. Claire is an attractive former flight attendant in her late
30s. What develops between the three of them leads to suspicion and
jealousy—and the novel’s suspenseful climax.

Like many Cape Bretoners, MacDonald spins a good yarn, as this ménage
а trois amply illustrates. Innis is a compelling character, though some
readers may find the young man’s vigorous use of street language
offensive with all its vulgarisms. MacDonald is also a fine writer of
landscape and setting; his descriptions of a “silver thaw” and of a
local Gaelic church service are memorable.

Life is indeed both bitter and yet sweet in this well-written first
novel.