Home Before Dark

David E. Kemp, a former professor of drama at Queen’s University, is
the author of The Pleasures and Treasures of the United Kingdom.

Forester, arctic weatherman, and immigration officer are among the many
jobs Bill MacDonald has held. This, his fourth book, is part memoir and
part travelogue. In the capacity of itinerant journalist and
schoolteacher, he takes us to Portugal, Corsica, Provence, St. Pierre,
and Fontainebleu, among other destinations. His descriptions of the
unusual people and places he encounters are the best part of Home Before
Dark. Less successful are his attempts to use his experiences as some
kind of personal and spiritual expiation. Here one senses a certain
self-consciousness and pretension that are at odds with the book’s
otherwise robust style and tone.