From the Alleghenies to the Hebrides

The story of a woman’s life, spanning the twentieth century and two continents: “A miniature masterpiece . . . often funny, sometimes moving, never sentimental.” —Times Literary Supplement

Margaret Fay Shaw’s life spanned a century of change. Orphaned at eleven, she left home and school in Pennsylvania aged sixteen, crossing to Scotland to spend a year at school near Glasgow. It was there that her love for Scotland was born. After studying music in New York and Paris, she returned to live for six years with two sisters in South Uist. Life on the island had changed little from previous centuries, and material comforts were few. But the island was rich in music and tradition, and Margaret Fay Shaw’s collection of Gaelic lore and song are among the most important made this century, while her photography evocatively captures the aura of a vanished world.

Her autobiography is the remarkable testament of a remarkable woman, as well as a powerful plea in defense of a Gaelic culture and world under threat. It is written with a sharpness of observation, directness of humor, and zest for life—and it is also a marvelous record of the twentieth century.

“[A] gem of an autobiography.” —The Wall Street Journal

“Brilliantly capture[s] the twilight world of the Hebrides in the twentieth century.” —The Guardian