Calum's Road

Calum's Road

by RogerHutchinson (Author)

Synopsis

This book is a parable: a moving story of stubbornly heroic resistance and of extraordinary personal achievement. It is the story of a statement made from the depths of one man's heart in the most practical and indisputable of ways against the unnecessary destruction of his homeland. Calum MacLeod had lived on the northern point of Raasay since his birth in 1911. He tended the Rona lighthouse at the very tip of his little archipelago, until semi-automation in 1967 reduced his responsibilities. 'So what he decided to do,' says his last neighbour, Donald MacLeod, 'was to build a road out of Arnish in his months off. With a road he hoped new generations of people would return to Arnish and all the north end of Raasay...' And so, at the age of 56, Calum MacLeod, the last man left in northern Raasay, set about single-handedly constructing the 'impossible' road. It would become a romantic, quixotic venture, a kind of sculpture; an obsessive work of art so perfect in every gradient, culvert and supporting wall that its creation occupied almost twenty years of his life. In "Calum's Road", Roger Hutchinson recounts the extraordinary story of this remarkable man's devotion to his visionary project.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 224
Edition: First Edition
Publisher: Birlinn Ltd
Published: 31 Jul 2006

ISBN 10: 1841584479
ISBN 13: 9781841584478

Media Reviews

'wonderful, elegant and serious'

* The Telegraph *

'MacLeod defied powers outwith his control in the only way he could . . . paints a compelling picture of the man'

* Sunday Times *

'An incredible testament to one man's determination'

* The Sunday Herald *

'This is an extraordinarily fine book, and one of the most important books to have come out of the Highlands and Islands in recent years'

* West Highland Free Press *
Author Bio

Roger Hutchinson is an award-winning author and journalist. After working as an editor in London, in 1977 he joined the West Highland Free Press in Skye. Since then he has published thirteen books, including Polly: the True Story Behind Whisky Galore. He is still attached to the WHFP as editorialist and columnist, and has written for BBC Radio, The Scotsman, The Guardian, The Herald and The Literary Review. His book The Soap Man (Birlinn 2003) was shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year (2004).