Undiscovered Scotland

 

What does a reader need from a really good biography? Well, first and foremost, you need an author whose research has been exhaustive. This is certainly the case with Fiona J. Mackenzie's biography of Margaret Fay Shaw. In her author's note at the beginning, the author tells of the way her life and her subject's have become aligned over the last three decades. If you want an author who really, deeply, knows her subject then this book ticks that box with consummate ease: and for a sense of the background work involved, take a look at the endnotes and bibliography.

It also helps a reader come to know the subject of a biography if the author truly understands their subject and, biographies about morally dubious politicians, oligarchs and royals apart, empathises with them. That's another very clear tick. Margaret Fay Shaw was a force for good and her positive influence has made a lasting difference to the Gaelic world: the author's empathy for her brings a real richness to this book. Then, of course, a reader is looking for a book that is well written in accessible language. That's another two ticks.

To summarise, there's something really rather wonderful about a biography that feels to the reader as if it has to be the best book about its subject that can ever be written. "The Cadence of a Song: The Life of Margaret Fay Shaw" by Fiona J. Mackenzie is one of those all-too rare books. No one else is ever going to be able to write about Margaret Fay Shaw without referring to this book. It really is that good. If you have any interest at all in the Highlands and (especially) Islands of Scotland or in Scottish folklore and song, or in the preservation and revival of the Gaelic language, then this is a book you have to read.

You get a good sense of the the book from the publisher's description of it: "The American-born folklorist and musician Margaret Fay Shaw’s passion for the Hebrides led her to the island of South Uist in 1929 and then to Canna in 1935 as the wife of the eminent folklorist John Lorne Campbell. Her extraordinary work in documenting and preserving traditional Gaelic songs and customs remains a vital resource for understanding Hebridean music, and the Campbells’ house on Canna is a unique collection of priceless material celebrating the Hebridean world. This vast archive also includes Margaret's collection of still and film photography, which capture the essence of island life at a time when old traditions were vanishing. This book celebrates the legacy and life of a remarkable woman, who herself wrote with such wit and flair of her travels and adventures and which took her from turn of-the-century Pennsylvania to 1920s New York, Paris, Nova Scotia and the Hebrides, where she lived until her death in 2004."