Barometer Rising

by Hugh MacLennan

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.

Genres: Canada, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classics, Canadian Literature, Historical, Read For School

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

John Hugh MacLennan was born to Dr.Samuel MacLennan, a physician, and Katherine MacQuarrie in Glace Bay; he had an older sister named Frances. His father was a stern Calvinist; his mother, creative, warm and dreamy. Hugh inherited traits from both. In 1913 they went to London where Samuel took courses for a medical specialty. When they returned to Canada, they settled briefly in Sydney, before moving permanently to Halifax where they experienced the Explosion in Dec. 1917, which Hugh later wrote about in his first published novel, Barometer Rising. He became good at sports, winning the men's N.S. double tennis championship in 1927. Both Frances and Hugh were pushed hard in their schooling by their father, especially in the Classics. Frances had no interest in these subjects, but Hugh did well in them, first at Dalhousie University, winning a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford. He worked incredibly hard there but only reached second-class. In his 4th year, he spent more and more time on tennis and writing poetry, which was not accepted by the publishers to whom he sent it.
While in Europe he traveled to Italy, Greece, Switzerland, France and Germany. While sailing home in 1932, he met his future wife, Dorothy Duncan. His father was not pleased with her American background and insisted that he not marry before becoming independent. Since he was refused a job at two Canadian universities and had a scholarship for Princeton University, he completed his Ph.D.Oxyrhynchus:An Economic and Social Study, about the decline of a Roman colony in Egypt.
He wrote two novels during those years, one set in Europe, the other in the USA. but they were never published. It was his wife, whom he married in 1936, who persuaded him to set his work in Canada, the country he knew best. He had begun teaching at Lower Canada College in Montreal. She told him, "Nobody's going to understand Canada until she evolves a literature of her own, and you're the fellow to start bringing Canadian novels up to date." Until then there had been no real tradition of Canadian literature, and MacLennan set out to define Canada for Canadians through a national novel.Barometer Rising, his novel about the social class structure of Nova Scotia and the Halifax Explosion of 1917, was published in 1941.

Reviews

[Fergus, Weaver of Autistic Webs · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was in high school I was picked as Head Boy for a year. That same year I read this book, and the three stars are from my 15-year-old self (we were a new school and all of us were my age or younger).

It was our novel for discussion in English class during the winter term.

My reaction? Meh. Not for me, as it represented the collision of European postmodern néant with Nova Scotian middle class mediocrity. Depressing enough for you? I musta said to my buddies.

But it was all there in the novel: the Greening of North America, and unrest among the Canadian young - an unrest that began, I think, with the disillusionment that followed WWI. MacLennan seems to agree with that.

My 14-year old locker neighbour, Cathy, said I was out of it. Yeah, she was right - my head was in the student council cloudspace of wrestling teen smokers onto the straight 'n narrow path - and doing without nicotine for the whole six hours of a school day!

That was my position. I was, however, vastly overwhelmed.

The Student Council put my posterior in a sling as a result. They may have been right to do it...

I didn't get that all the players on their team had moved way out into the outfield, ethically speaking. I didn't get what Dylan meant when he screamed that Our Times Were Changing - but big time. And our morals with it.

Hugh McLennan told me that Canada itself was changing fast in this novel. Still I didn't get it. Brought up by a Dad who had the ethical mindcast of an Eminent Victorian - like Penelope Wain's dad - I was really out of it.

At the end of the school year, there was a dinner talk at an exclusive city men's club sponsored by an organization called Moral Re-Armament.

Duh. I hadn't even realized we were under attack!

So I just kept on fiddling away my time in my cloudspace as Head Boy -

While Rome burned.

Yes, Mr. MacLennan, the world’s barometer was going nuts.

And I think us rule makers were just somewhere else at the time...

Maybe Cloud Cuckoo Land, just like me?

[Antoinette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prior to this book, I have only read one other book by Hugh MacLennan- Two Solitudes. That one I read over 40 years ago and in truth, I have never forgotten it. That is probably due to the fact that I grew up in Quebec and the book had to do with the French/ English animosity.

Hugh MacLennan likes to centre his books on historical events in Canada. This time the focus is on the Halifax Explosion that occurred in 1917. He was living there at the time, albeit a child, but it’s magnitude and the effect on Halifax obviously affected him. 2000 people died and many others were injured and many were blinded by the flying glass.

This book takes place over 8 days- Dec 2-10, before, during and just after the explosion. World War 1 is still going on and Halifax is the major port in Canada sending men and supplies over to Europe. There is a love story in this book, as well as a vindication story, but the true mastery occurs when the explosion occurs. It was so well described - it’s power so enormous that everything else became secondary. I knew minimal about the event. I can’t say it was ever covered in my Canadian history classes. I love when a book brings a real life event to life and forces me to do my own research.

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Hugh MacLennan is a masterful writer and a true Canadian legend.

[C. (Comment, never msg). · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not read war stories, despite proudly supporting Canadian work and nearly gave “Barometer Rising” five stars. That tells you this is one special novel. I became informed about “The Halifax Explosion” a few years ago; the worst in history. This is an opportunity to read a re-enactment, not merely a write-up, from Hugh MacLennan, who was there. December 6, 2017 has just made it 100 years ago!

A small quibble: characters received first name basis except Geoffrey Wain and Angus Murray. “Said” is in error, when dialogue poses a question. What dipped my appreciation to four stars, is skipping the most gratifying part we were awaiting! Neil Macrae, accused of refusing an order that threw a battle in France, is back. That is not a mystery to key people for long. What we anticipate is his reaction to someone. The revelation does not occur and on his way to be surprised by them, Hugh thought it sufficient to close the novel! He wrote a two-chapter play by play of the explosion but did not show us the happy reward! A downgrade to four stars also honours a horse, whom Neil did not assist out of the snow!

I was impressed otherwise. Imagine, a woman making headlines as a ship-building engineer in 1917 and shown as composedly-intelligent and confident, in a 1941 novel! Her aunt Mary is a dear woman. Even the aunt by marriage, who was judgemental and prickly, found her element when their house was needed as a hospital. Penny is understandably anxious about everything coming out well with Neil. Everyone, except her father and his sense of entitlement, bolsters their city in dangerous days. The feeling of WWI in Canada and Halifax's unique position, as a seaport vital to Britain, are of course revelations to me.

[Bfisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best part of this book is the description of the Halifax Explosion and the aftermath. That was very well done. The best character in this book is Halifax.

Unfortunately, it was paired with a laboured reworking of Odysseus returning to Ithaca to deal with the suitors; naming your character Penny, really? For the reader who didn't get it by the end, the author offers the hero's closing dialogue: "Wise Penelope. That's what Odysseus said to his wife when he got home."

The book is further marred by too many musing of the vast landmass in the background; the fruitful prairies and majestic Rockies are brought into the foreground too often. CanLit got better when it stopped trying to be CanLit.

[Manybooks · Rating 2 out of 5]

When we covered Canadian literature in grade eleven English, we read both Hugh MacLennan's Two Solitudes (1945) and also his Barometer Rising (1941 and in fact MacLennan's debut novel). But whereas I totally loved Two Solitudes in 1984 and still mostly enjoyed (even if I no longer adored) my recent rereading, both in 1984 and in 2023 I found Barometer Rising really and majorly hard to get into, primarily because the beginning of Barometer Rising is totally and utterly stylistically frustrating and awkward (at least in my humble opinion). For MacLennan uses pronouns for almost everyone being encountered, and no or only very few personal names, so that one kind of ends up having trouble figuring out who is who and who is speaking with whom. And while I kind of understand why no names are being used by Hugh MacLennan at the beginning of Barometer Rising, since in particular Neil MacRae is supposed to be incognito (since he is trying to clear his name with regard to charges of desertion and is also presumed to be dead), this does not really at all make me enjoy MacLennan's stylistics any more, any better and to find the beginning of Barometer Rising any less annoyingly confusing (and quite frankly, if I had used that kind of personal pronouns extravaganza in my high school papers, my teachers would and rightfully so have pointed out that my text was bordering on being a bit incomprehensible and problematically vague).

Now I did push on with Barometer Rising and Hugh MacLennan's writing style certainly managed to kind of improve a bit for me, but also not nearly enough to consider more than two stars as a rating. For while MacLennan is definitely very good at textually evoking the sights, colours, sounds and even the scents, the smells of Halifax, that the city almost feels like a participating character in Barometer Rising and that the day by day moving ever and constantly towards the disaster, towards the Halifax Explosion of 1917 is historically accurate and also quite interesting with regard to Canadian history, sorry, but the fictional parts of Barometer Rising, in particular Penny and Neil's romance, the too facile and neatly tied-up ending and that many of the characters in Barometer Rising seem to feel wooden, often unlikeable and not at all to my reading tastes, yes, this has certainly negatively affected potential reading pleasure in 2023 as much as this did in 1984, with me certainly feeling that Barometer Rising comes a very very distant second to Two Solitudes. And yes indeed, although Barometer Rising as a story of and about the Halifax Explosion and WWI in Canada shows a very nice historical accuracy, I do and must say that I have found the fictional parts of Hugh MacLennan's story pretty unremarkable, tedious and not at all engaging.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book opens with Neil Macrae sneaking furtively about in the dark recesses of Halifax, looking for the witnesses who might clear his name two years after he was accused of disobeying military orders in France. It’s cold and he’s alone and he risks a court martial if it’s discovered that he survived the enemy attack that was presumed to have killed him. Thus, the city of Halifax and the explosion of 1917 become the backdrop for the story of Macrea’s quest for justice and the resumption of his love affair with Penelope Wain.

In Penelope, MacLennan creates a strong and independent woman who is a leader in her family and in her profession as a ship designer. There’s no doubt that she’s in love with Neil, but she’s no wide-eyed girl searching for a husband. Admittedly, at the end of the book she is injured and out of the action while her two love interests go on to become heroes, but considering that the book was published in 1941, that can be forgiven.

My favourite character might be Angus Murray. He’s an older, liberally flawed military man who is hoping to win Penelope’s heart, and he just happened to be in the vicinity during Neil’s alleged crimes and presumed death. He’s suffered enough of life’s hardships that he can’t be bullied, not even by Penelope’s morally corrupt father, and when faced with a difficult decision he takes the high road, though it costs him.

It’s worthwhile noting that ten year old Hugh MacLennan lived through the Halifax explosion and that makes me wonder if the experiences of Penelope’s young brother are a retelling of the author’s own experiences.

I have mixed feelings about the blending of fictional love stories and historical disasters, (think Titanic) but this isn’t just a predictable romance, and MacLennan includes enough interlocking puzzle pieces to keep the plot interesting. Between the unfolding of events which occurred in France in 1915 and the introduction of the various personalities, I was quickly taken by this book. In fact, I read it in such a hurry that I’m going to have to read it again, much more slowly this time, in order to better appreciate MacLennan’s beautiful writing style.

This is the third Hugh MacLennan book I’ve read and it’s become my new favourite.

[rabbitprincess · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the very beginning of Barometer Rising, you can tell this is a singular book. The foreword sets the stage when it says that this book "is one of the first ever written to use Halifax, Nova Scotia, as its sole background." Then it blew my mind by saying that there was "as yet no tradition of Canadian literature" at the time Barometer Rising was originally published (1941). CanLit is not even 70 years old at the time this review is being written, and look at all the things we've accomplished! It's amazing.

Amazing also describes this book well. The story takes place from a few days before to a day or so after the Halifax Explosion, which occurred on December 6, 1917. It was a horrific event: a munitions ship collided with a relief vessel and caught fire, but only a few people knew what was really inside, so lots of people were out on the street watching the ship burn when it exploded. It is still one of the largest non-atomic explosions in history, or something like that.

But we are not following the crew of this ill-fated vessel. Instead we focus on Neil MacRae, a disgraced soldier who has returned to Halifax, where his lover (and also his cousin) Penelope Wain still lives. She believes he died in Europe, so she has managed to carry on, holding down a very respectable job designing ships. (Respectable from our perspective, of course; most of the male characters think she really shouldn't be doing "men's work".) What will happen if their paths crossed? How much has Penny changed? Has Neil changed? And of course what impact will the Explosion have when it occurs?

This is quite honestly a brilliant book. As a poet, MacLennan is blessed with a gift for description. He picks the right words and uses all of the senses, making the scene come to life. For example, the foghorns whose sounds permeated the walls of the Wain household. You can almost feel the bellow rattling around in your own bones when you read those lines. His protagonists are animated, with active inner thoughts (particularly those of Angus Murray, a medical officer from Neil's battalion). Of course greater dimension is given to Penny, Neil and Angus, but Geoffrey Wain, Penny's father and Neil's uncle, also has more to him than one might think.

MacLennan's description of the Explosion rates its own paragraph. It is utterly breathtaking, speaking to both the quality of his research and his ability to conjure up the perfect image. Even though what happens in the harbour is a matter of historical record and cannot be changed (this is not an alternate history novel), the dread one feels at the Imo approaching the deadly Mont Blanc is palpable, and the moment the ship goes up is sickening.

This is one of those rare books where I feel even a tiny bit comfortable discussing themes and symbols. The barometer mentioned in the title gave me pause, but I can guess that the fact that it's rising means that the pressure is increasing throughout the story -- the confrontation between the various parties involved in the Neil MacRae affair has to come to a head after the tension of the days leading up to the Explosion, which blows everyone's world apart and changes things radically. There is also a theme of the older generations being supplanted by the new, as illustrated by the character of Alec MacKenzie and the anecdote about Angus Murray returning to his father's farm and finding that much of the land his father had painstakingly cleared the trees from was reverting to new forest.

To conclude this review, I shall leave you with a short passage from the last little bit of the book.

No matter what happened to him in the future he would always be able to tell himself that he had survived worse things in the past. Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit. Only one who had experienced ultimate things could comprehend the greatness of that line.

The line in question is from The Aeneid, and one possible translation is "Perhaps it will be pleasing to remember even this one day." Translator Robert Fagles did not propose this translation (I got it off Wikiquote), but he has been quoted as saying that "[the line:] is about loss, about overcoming the worst", a statement that can also be fairly applied to this book. Very moving, beautifully written, Barometer Rising is a must-read for Canadian literature fans and anyone interested in historical fiction.

[Bob Newman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novel with an explosive subject

BAROMETER RISING is above all a novel of place and that place is Halifax, Nova Scotia in December 1917. MacLennan is very good at evoking the sights, colors, smells, and sounds of the city and its environs. If you have ever visited that small, but charming city, you would probably enjoy reading this novel just for nostalgia's sake. A competent, but not great writer, MacLennan portrays pleasingly rounded characters who are not stiff or one dimensional and weaves a plot that resolves itself in various ways on the occasion of the huge explosion that destroyed most of Halifax on Dec. 6, 1917, the biggest man-made explosion in history before the nuclear age. The story is rather too neat and a little banal in the way ends are tied up. If five stars are for the greatest novels you've ever read, and four for those that don't quite get up to that level, then three are for an average, competent job that can give you a couple nights' pleasure when the branches are scraping at the window in the winter wind. Try it, you might like it, but if disasters are not your bag, then avoid this book because the main character is an explosion.

[Ian M. Pyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely wonderful writing. MacLennan blended the true story of the Halifax explosion with a war-time story of deceit, love, family fights & business with the efforts to save the injured of the explosion.

The central characters were well conceived & believable and I was able to relate to them very easily. It was interesting to learn about the family life back in those days with inter-family marriages. I liked the story lines of how Neil Macrae survived the war and was able to hid from being court-martialed and came back to Halifax only to be sighted by Penny.

Having Neil, Murray and Al became friends and confident and go against Colonel Geoffrey Wain was a great idea and only added to the main story.

Another short side story was Penny having a daughter who was adopted by relatives and then keeping that a secret for so long was surprising. And, Roddie was quite the character too!

Loved the idea of Penny being as an accomplished ship designer was a great touch as well.

Recommended for anyone who likes Canadian historical fiction and fans of Hugh MacLennan who has yet to ride this book or Two Solitudes.

[Lucille · Rating 3 out of 5]

We read this for my Canadian Literature class. There are three major things in it: nationalism, sexism, and some good old fashion cousin-love. If you don't enjoy reading about any of those things, this is maybe not the book for you. If you think that a book set during WWI in Halifax at the time of the Halifax explosion is going to be action-packed and about either of those events, you're mistaken. Prepare yourself for a lot of introspection, and all of the sexism. But actually. So much.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although born in Canada I have lived in USA since I was 11 so no Canadian lit classes for me. Whenever I am in Canada I pick up several books by Canadian authors, sometimes challenging young people at book stores to recommend some. This summer I spent a couple of enjoyable days in Halifax before a road trip across Newfoundland. Loved Halifax and the marvelous library.
But about the book.
I enjoyed the story. I liked Penny and admired Angus who I thought a better man than the Neil, despite his being the baby daddy.
The description of the explosion was riveting and the aftermath compelling. Neil seemed to be a totally different person when faced with the need to take charge of the situation.
I was worried about the baby. No one seemed concerned about the possibility of problems due to her parents being first cousins.
The city was an important character in the book. I tried to follow the locations of events on my free tourist city map but it wasn’t very helpful.
I appreciate all the thoughtful reader reviews as I don’t know anyone in Colorado who read’s Canadian literature.

[Jean Ives · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe because I've just been to Halifax, maybe because we are approaching the centennial of the Halifax explosion, maybe because I read it over the Remembrance Day weekend; this book spoke to me. The various descriptions of the city and daily life were vivid and took me right to those places that I know reasonably well. I can still feel the snow storm. Yes, there were tedious bits of navel gazing but hey, it was written in 1941. I loved it. How can you not love this language: "There were fine days with westerly winds and you could smell the odour of spruce trees in the downtown streets and the atmosphere of the place was like a tonic. But there were almost as many wet days when Halifax was worse than any town he could remember, when the fog isolated it from the ocean and the forests until there was nothing to see but steaming pavements and the bells moaned in the distance and the stained old buildings seemed to expect the bad weather to go right on to the end of the world."

[LibraryCin · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars

It’s 1917 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Penny (a woman working at the shipyard – very unusual for the time)’s love (and cousin) has been at war and he’s missing. They all think he’s dead. So, when Angus (much older than Penny) asks her to marry him, she accepts. Only days later, the Halifax Harbour goes up in an explosion.

The book only follows just over one week. It took longer than I liked to get to the explosion. Leading up to it wasn’t nearly as interesting as the explosion itself and the aftermath, but not long after, it concluded mostly with their regular lives again. If there had been more focus on the disaster, I would have enjoyed it more, I’m sure. There was an afterword by another “classic” Canadian author, Alistair Macleod – one of those that analyzes the book; one of the ones that should never be an introduction but often is (because it gives away the story)! Luckily, it was an afterword.

[❀ Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is fascinating and so sad to learn more about the Halifax explosion and this book describes a family challenged by lies, colonialism and classism set in Halifax as the war rages overseas.

Setting aside the clearly male written descriptions of female characters and misogyny of that time, the visceral characters described the trauma, loss and devastation in Halifax.

[Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh lord, this is awful. A historical romance set around the Halifax explosion sounds like a terrible concept, and the execution is equally bad. The setting feels forced; McLennan is very focused on making it authentic, at the expense of the storyline and general readability. The characters are, on the whole, extremely unlikeable, especially the "hero". And McLenna's prose is unbelievably melodramatic; he adores his adjectives, which is, honestly, an awful way to write. When the description of a tragedy as powerful as the Halifax explosion has me rolling my eyes at how even a tragedy is overwrought, that is an awful sign.

[Lillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish we had read this in high school or university for Canadian Lit or History. Much better than reading Atwood!

Though slow to start, I really liked the story overall. The author wove the the characters together and apart very well. The beginning part was a little slow though, but started to pick up closer to the explosion. I like how the "trivial" things in life were set aside with the explosion and it's aftermath. I thought it was interesting that the father was all but forgotten about until Neil literally stumbled upon him.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book and necessary reading for anyone interested in Canadian literature. The 1917 Halifax Explosion - the central event of the book - works multi-fold; as the actual devastating historical event that it was, as a metaphor for the building tension between the characters in the book, and as a symbol of WWI and its devastating outcomes due to human failings, mischance, and the randomness of chaos.

[Jelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Somehow made it to the end by sheer force of will and a nagging sense that I should give this so-called "classic" of Canadian literature an honest try.

I'd like to say that the burst of action and excitement in the last few chapters is worth the wait, but for me it could not make up for the painful, lumbering nature of the rest of the narrative.

Also, an author using the term "loin" to describe a woman's body? No. Just no.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic in Canadian Literature. You need to read this in order to understand where Canadian Fiction has come from and possibly to understand some of the incidents that formed Canada as a nation. You don't need to read this if what you are looking for is a can't put it down tale told with verve.

[Sharon Plett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel, much more than I expected. I can't believe no teacher or professor ever encouraged me to read it. I found it to be a wonderful reflection on Canadian history and Canadian identity.

[Natalie Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book I ever read set in Halifax. Started my obsession with the history of the Halifax Explosion.

[Kevin Joannou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts off a little slow, but ends with a bang.

[Penny (Literary Hoarders) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, I liked how Halifax was just as much a central character as the people. The ending was a bit abrupt or unfinished to me though.

[Cindy Wiedemer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book I have a loved it hated it opinion. I will start by saying I hated the story line, love triangle family dynamics that ultimately had nothing to do with anything, no point no purpose. Except to set up where each character was when absolute disaster and destruction hit. However my love of this book comes in the powerful depiction of the moments leading up to the explosion the moment it occurred and of course the days following. The vivid details of mass misery shock and total loss felt by the entire city. The damage done to a beautiful city, the great number of eye injuries due to broken glass and the force windswept by the explosion. All to include the true destruction and injuries and loss the Population felt. It was very powerful and I couldn't put it down during that section if the book. The chapters prior to this felt lifeless and anti climatic and the ending was unsatisfactory and honestly showed that even after finding freedom and herself was giving herself up because she wouldn't say no. All other characters seem to grow into new people and she reverted back to that controlled girl she fought to escape. It felt like the author really wanted to write about the explosion and sort of threw together a random confusing bland story to go around it. Thankfully the detail and justice given to the devastation to represent it truthfully and powerfully over shadows the poor story line beside it. At least in my opinion. I do recommend this book though as it is very powerful.

[Sasha Bredenhof · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book! The story hooked me right away, and I loved the Canadian setting, and how quintessentially Canadian the whole book felt. I remember learning about the Halifax explosion in grade 3 or something, so it was really interesting to read a fiction's take on it and understand the history around it. Entertaining and educational ;)
It also was quite easy to read! Definitely recommend.

[soph iorio · Rating 2 out of 5]

BORING. SNOOZEFEST. and why are the cousins fucking…..

[Brenna Cumming · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was it the best book I have ever read? No, however, my dad said it must have done its job if you can’t stop talking about it, hence, three stars.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1917, the largest non-nuclear explosion in the world occurred in Halifax harbour when two ships collided, one loaded with munitions and highly flammable material. The resulting blast levelled the north end of the city, broke windows all over the city, even rattled dishes on shelves 60 - 100 miles away. 2000 died and thousands more were injured and blinded by flying shattered glass. This novel is set during the days before and after the Halifax Explosion. Neil MacRae was assumed to have died in the war but he's alive and has come back to Halifax to clear his name. The man who was instrumental in Neil's name being besmirched is Geoffrey Wain and the man who might be able to help clear his name is Alec MacKenzie. Wain's daughter, Penelope, is Neil's cousin and also the woman he loves.

The characters are very well drawn out and the descriptions make you feel like you're really there, especially during and after the explosion. The story gives you a good idea how the devastation affected the lives of the citizens in the city and the characters' story draws you in.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an eloquent book about the destruction of World War I on Canadian soldiers, and the devastating Halifax explosion in 1917. Neil McCrae's reputation was destroyed because he didn't follow an irrational and dangerous order that was passed to him. Presumed dead, he returns to Halifax to clear his name. The problem is the man who gave the order is his uncle and the father of his previous lover, who has never given up on him. The interaction is interrupted by the explosion where the whole town comes together to help those who were wounded and dead. The commentary coming through the thoughts and words of Neil and Murray are moving and provocative. They are trying to find meaning in the constant tragedies that the war brought. Written during WWII MacLennan is exploring Canada's responsibility to England and the meaning war that was repeating itself a generation later.

[Ginger Hallett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew that this book is a work of historical fiction set in Halifax in 1917, the week surrounding the Halifax Explosion on December 6th. What I did not know was how the story would be told, and so was pleasantly surprised by the fictional family drama that is interwoven with the history of the event. I thought the writing would be much drier than it was. The story starts a few days prior to the collision of a French munitions ship and a Norwegian ship, focusing on the wealthy Wain family, whose ancestor helped found the city. Conflicts within the family, combined with the role of Halifax in the Great War and the aftermath of the explosion, and subsequent relief efforts, create a picture of what life was like in Halifax at that time. The afterword by Alistair MacLeod is a history lesson in itself.