Local history
Reviews
My one regret is that this book was not written 15 or 20 years ago … one must be grateful to Jim Wilkie for having caught the last few authentic voices before they are still forever
Stornoway Gazette
About the Book
In April 1923 the SS Metagama weighed anchor off Stornoway and set sail for Montreal. On board were three hundred young men and women bound for a new life in North America. Partly driven by the lure of opportunities overseas, these young Leosachs were also participants in the new government programme of state-aided emigration.
Based on personal interviews with those who travelled to the New World on the Metagama and other ships, Jim Wilkie sets their story in the context of emigration in Lewis over the centuries, to produce a fascinating insight into one of the central events in the island’s history.
The Author
Jim Wilkie
Jim Wilkie was born and educated in Dundee. After an early struggle with the West Highland Free Press and a more protracted skirmish with the music business, he now freelances as a Press and Development person who writes and performs occasionally. He is married with two children.
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Paperback | Pub: 23 May 2019£9.99
The Highland Clearances are a well-documented episode in Scotland’s past but they were not unique. The process began in the Scottish Lowlands nearly a century before, when tens of thousands of people – significantly more than were later exiled...
