Gild the Morning Sky

About the Book

Hannah Lambert [nee Stoddart] is a feisty woman, born years before her time, determined to allow nothing to interfere with her plans for betterment, her passionate vow never to be poor again. Something does interfere though, something more than her profound love for Robert Lambert, whom she loses in the "Great War" [1914-18] something more than her later love for his brother Willie, or even her children. Married to the dominant brother Robert, who takes up so much of her thoughts, emotions and energy, that when he leaves her abruptly by death in battle, her faith in God helps her through until her pregnancy, and subsequent delivery of a son. John Robert occupies her fully for a time. The novel spans forty years in the life of the Lamberts but the protagonist is Hannah, the determined, outspoken fiesty young woman inclined toward Women´s Liberation, is determined never to be poor again until she discovers true liberation. As the six Lamberts leave their native Scotland for Canada in the summer of 1921, their journey is much more than geographic. It will also be a spiritual journey in which, as the story unfolds, the family members experience many life-changing happenings, traumatic, tender and tragic, before reaching the final chapter. Hannah´s actions and reactions are mixed with pathos and humour as she progresses to maturity on her double journey into the unknown. The novel opens with the "but and ben" scene , where thirteen year-old Hannah Stoddart finds herself in the position of decision maker for her family, or what is left of her family. Up until a few days ago the family had consisted of parents Gavin and Bella, brother Lachlan (Lachie) and sister Ellie. Lachie is the first to break away after his father finally goes too far in his cruel baiting of the sixteen-year-old youth. The deeply grieving mother wills her own death after the father, a pious hypocrite who is also an alcoholic, in a drunken stupor, falls under the wheels of a motor car, and dies of his injuries. Within a span of three days the family is reduced to Hannah and ten-year-old Ellie. The story switches to the Lamberts who are then on a family outing to the seashore. We meet Sophia, Robert Senior, Robert Junior, Willie, Maggie and Lizzie. This is a normal happy family and is the opposite to the one where Hannah was reared, but she does not meet them yet awhile. Two chapters detail happenings in the Lambert household but WW1 causes traumatic changes there too. When war breaks out in 1914 Hannah volunteers for canteen work for soldiers and sailors at the front lines. Here she meets her first Canadian - a soldier from Vancouver named Gilbert. Then she meets Robert Lambert, an army officer now,they fall in love and marry by special license. Robert brings her home to Eastkirk. But again tragedy strikes as Robert is declared missing in action, presumed killed, just as the war draws to a close. Hannah delivers Robert´s son as the family slowly recovers from its double loss. This is where Willie decides to take his family to Canada. On shipboard [the year is now 1921] Hannah encounters one Reverend Bruce MacAlister, a Scottish minister in his seventies. A friendship is established to last a lifetime. On the journey across Canada by train, the family´s fortunes take another turn as they change plans for a final destination. More romance enters the story as the frigid Maggie is melted by the love-at-first-sight meeting with a handsome French-Canadian. Other deep friendships and relationships are established with rewards in the form of exchange of cultures and traditions.

About the Author

Educational Background… Graduate: 1975 General Arts and Science Grant MacEwan Community College Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Published fiction… “CALL OF THE ISLES” (Fleming H. Revell. February 1989.) This novel nominated for the 1990 Gold Medallion Award for fiction. First novel in the “Isles of the Sea” series about a minister in the Scottish Highlands, late nineteenth century. “MY HEART’S IN THE HIGHLANDS” (Fleming H. Revell 1989). “FIRES IN THE GLEN” (Fleming H. Revell 1989). “HAVEN BY THE LOCH” (Fleming H. Revell 1991). “LURE OF DISTANT WATERS” (Fleming H. Revell 1991) Market-ready fiction includes… “My Kinsman Jason”, a novel set in the First Century A.D. about a Christian soldier in Roman occupied Britain. “The Stones Cry Out”. A Biblical Historical novel set in the Seventh Century B.C. “Joshua’s Promise”. A contemporary novel for youth. “Gild the Morning Sky”. A family saga set in the first quarter of the Twentieth Century depicting life in the Canadian West.