- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Caliban Books; New Ed edition (Sep 1982)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0904573745
- ISBN-13: 978-0904573749
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 935,507 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Synopsis
First published in 1914, "Children of the Dead End" is Patrick MacGill's autobiography. The book starts with an account of his childhood in Ireland at the end of the 19th century, and includes a detailed description of his poverty and hand-to-mouth existence. As an adult, MacGill migrated to Scotland with a number of fellow Irishmen, and the book describes in both a humorous and moving way the life of a navvy in Scotland and England at the beginning of this century. The songs, sayings and life of an itinerant navvy are revealed in this autobiography.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
McGill's best book,
By
This review is from: Children of the Dead End (Paperback)
This is probably patrick MacGill's best work, but I cringe sometimes at the way that his writing has been adopted and disected by the literati. In essence, MacGill was a social commentator, somebody who wrote about the poor and the disposessed from the perspective that he was there, he was one of them. This is no dispassionate treatise on the life of the Irish navvy in Scotland in the early 1900s, this is a fictionalised account of MacGill's own story.
Anybody who has ever visited the Scottish highlands, particularly around FortWilliam and Glencoe may have missed one of the most amazing sights relating to this period in twentieth century history. If you take the long route from Glencoe to Fortwilliam, avoiding the bridge across Loch Leven and instead following the shore of the loch, you come to the small and unassuming town of Kinlochleven. It is the kind of place that you might just drive through, because it seems that there is nothing to see there, but if you get out of your car and put on your hiking boots, there is a wonder of the world hidden in the hills above the town. Trek up the hills for a couple of miles (following the West Highland Way back towards the Devil's Staircase is easiest) and you come to the conduit that MacGill mentions in this book. This is a huge square-sectioned concrete channel, toppped with concrete slabs, that winds through the mountains to carry water from the Blackwater reservoir to flow down through iron pipes to the town below, where it turns the turbines that provided power for the aluminium smelter in "Electric Town." You can walk along the top of the conduit for about four miles to the huge dam that was also build by navvy labour, and visit the graveyard of the ones who didn't make it back. It is only then that you realise how well MacGill's book gives us a sense of the place and the work of the navvies. Because of the dam and the conduit, Kinlochlevin was lit by electricity before Buckingham Palace, and the pioneering work of the aluminium plant here gave us the technology that allowed for many of the things we take for granted today. It is unfortunate that the citizens and elected representatives of the town seem unable to recognise the importance of their heritage, but MacGill's writing at least keeps it alive. This is a book that everybody needs to read; it is a pity that it is out of print and that only occcasional copies survive. If you have found it on Amazon or anywhere else, buy it, and treasure it!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Children of the Dead End,
By
This review is from: Children of the Dead End (Paperback)
This book is beautifully and poetically written. I enjoyed reading it so much that I have ordered the other books in the series.
I felt transported to the authors world and went on his journey with him. If I could give this book more than 5 stars I would.
17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not your average load of Blarney,
By A Customer
This review is from: Children of the Dead End (Paperback)
MacGill's novel veers from the fantasy genre to providing some potent social commentary on the Ireland of the early 20th century. I urge you to read this novel and be amazed by MacGill's subtlety and his masterful grasp of narrative.
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