What Ends

Shortlisted for the Young Lions Fiction Award 2015 Set on a remote Scottish island, this is the compelling story of one family's struggle to cope with a vanishing way of life On Eilean Fìor, a small island off the north-west coast of Scotland with twenty-eight inhabitants, the McClouds run a faltering guesthouse. A family business, it is expected that one of the three children will eventually take over. But Barry, Flora and Trevor all have their own ideas. In this nuanced and moving debut novel, Andrew Ladd weaves together a series of conjoined narratives which follow each of the McClouds as they struggle to find a balance between their feelings of obligation and their desire for personal freedom. At once a lyrically haunting and unforgettable elegy for a lost world, What Ends is also a subtle family saga about change and regret – about the difference between feeling one is trapped and the reality of being so. In 1980, the McCloud family welcomes Trevor, their third child and the last to be born on Eilean Fior, a small island off the west coast of Scotland. Life there, on the eve of Trevor's birth, is grim: the population, once in the hundreds, now hovers around thirty, as most of the island's inhabitants have left for the mainland in search of an easier life. But the McClouds stubbornly maintain their guesthouse, despite their increasing trouble turning a profit and their children's lack of interest in taking over the family business. As soon as he is of age Barry - the McCloud's eldest son - flees the island, abandoning his siblings and rejecting the culture and traditions he was brought up with. After Flora finishes art school, she returns to Eilean Fior, resigned to her familial responsibilities, despite being certain that she wants more out of life. By the time Trevor is grown up, there is no place for ambivalence as the forces of time lock the McClouds into their way of life and out of any other. Weaving together a series of conjoined narratives which follow each of the McClouds as they navigate their ever-more fragile lives, Andrew Ladd's debut novel is a lyrically haunting and unforgettable elegy for lost world. In 1980, the McCloud family welcomes Trevor, their third child and the last to be born on Eilean Fìor, a small island off the west coast of Scotland. Life there, on the eve of Trevor's birth, is grim: the population, once in the hundreds, now hovers around thirty, as most of the island's inhabitants have left for the mainland. But the McClouds stubbornly maintain their guesthouse, despite their trouble turning a profit and their children's lack of interest in taking over the family business. As soon as he is of age Barry #x96; the eldest son #x96; flees the island, abandoning his siblings and rejecting the culture and traditions he was brought up with. After Flora, the only daughter, finishes art school, she returns to Eilean Fìor, resigned to her familial responsibilities. By the time Trevor is grown up, there is no place for ambivalence as the forces of time lock the McClouds into their way of life and out of any other Set on a remote Scottish island, this is the compelling story of one family's struggle to cope with a vanishing way of life - and a challenge to those who would call that struggle progress. In this nuanced and moving debut novel, Andrew Ladd weaves together a series of conjoined narratives which follow each of the McClouds as they struggle to find a balance between their feelings of obligation and their desire for personal freedom. At once a lyrically haunting and unforgettable elegy for lost world, What Ends is also a subtle family saga about change and regret - about the difference between feeling one is trapped and the reality of being so In 1980 the McCloud family welcomes Trevor, their third child and the last to be born on Eilean Fìor, a small island off the west coast of Scotland. Life there, on the eve of Trevor's birth, is grim: the population, once in the hundreds, now hovers around thirty; his parents stubbornly maintain the family business, a guesthouse, despite their increasing trouble turning a profit; and a plague of rats threatens to wipe out the island's last remaining hopes Met het verstrijken der jaren wordt duidelijk of en hoe lang een gezin met drie kinderen op een ontoegankelijk Schots eiland kan blijven wonen