Tento autor zkoumá složité vztahy mezi lidmi a krajinou, zejména v drsném prostředí Cape Bretonu. Jeho styl je často poetický a zároveň pronikavý, zachycuje krásu i drsnost života. Skrze své psaní se ponořuje do témat identity, paměti a vlivu domova na duši. Jeho dílo je lákavou pozvánkou k zamyšlení nad místem, které nazýváme domovem.
"Set against the unforgiving landscape of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, these stories are all concerned with the complexities and mysteries of the human heart. Steeped in memory and myth and washed in the brine and blood of the long battle with the land and the sea, they celebrate a passionate engagement with the natural world and a continuity of the generations in the face of transition in the face of love and loss."
Alexander MacDonald tells the story of his family from the vantage point of the 1980s. In 1779, driven from his home, Calum MacDonald sets sail from the Scottish Highlands for Canada. Reaching the land of trees, he settles his extensive family until they become a separate Nova Scotian clan.
Penelope Wain believes that her lover, Neil Macrae, has been killed while serving overseas under her father. That he died apparently in disgrace does not alter her love for him, even though her father is insistent on his guilt. What neither Penelope or her father knows is that Neil is not dead, but has returned to Halifax to clear his name. Hugh MacLennan’s first novel is a compelling romance set against the horrors of wartime and the catastrophic Halifax Explosion of December 6, 1917.