Dancing at the Rascal Fair
by Ivan Doig
The central volume in Ivan Doig's acclaimed Montana trilogy, Dancing at the Rascal Fair is an authentic saga of the American experience at the turn of this century and a passionate, portrayal of the immigrants who dared to try new lives in the imposing Rocky Mountains.It is 1889 when we meet Agnus McCaskill and Bob Barclay -- immigrants,
"both of us nineteen and green as the cheese in the moon and trying our
double-damndest not to show it." They are setting off for a new land, in
America, in Montana. We follow their fortunes for the next
30 years in Two Medicine county at the base of the Rockies: the building
of homes and the raising of families, making a living and making a
life. Here is a tale of the uncertainties of friendship, of brutal
winters and battles of will, and of two loves; one delightful and
heartbreaking in its intensity, the other born of sadness, equally
moving and stoical devotion.
"both of us nineteen and green as the cheese in the moon and trying our
double-damndest not to show it." They are setting off for a new land, in
America, in Montana. We follow their fortunes for the next
30 years in Two Medicine county at the base of the Rockies: the building
of homes and the raising of families, making a living and making a
life. Here is a tale of the uncertainties of friendship, of brutal
winters and battles of will, and of two loves; one delightful and
heartbreaking in its intensity, the other born of sadness, equally
moving and stoical devotion.