Come From Away

This was a totally engaging family history which also encompassed the history of Newfoundland.

David MacFarlane tells the story of his mother's Newfoundlander heritage by assembling family stories of his maternal great-grandparents and his great aunts and uncles. The often tragic stories include deaths in the First World War, from which the title "The Danger Tree" comes from. "The Danger Tree" was a marker in the no-man's-land between the Allied and German trenches where the Newfoundland Regiment fought at Beaumont-Hamel, France. The tree's (or its replacement's) mummified remains are encased in concrete at today's Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Site http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/overseas/first-world-war/fra....

This book was originally published in 1991 with the title "Come From Away", which is a common Newfoundlander expression for visitors or tourists to their island. At some point the title in subsequent re-printings was changed to "The Danger Tree," perhaps to avoid confusion with the Broadway musical? The story related to the new title isn't explained until the final chapter though. ( )

Just couldn't get into it so I did not finish it. I've gotten to the point where I realize I'll never read all the books on my wish list so I'm not wasting time on anything I suspect won't improve. ( )

Even though author David Macfarlane was raised in Ontario, his mother's Newfoundland is in his blood. He absorbed the Goodyear family history by listening to the stories told by visiting relatives, and he absorbed the Newfoundland landscape through summer vacations spent on the island. He was awed by the physical size of his Goodyear relatives and the strength of their personalities, and his impressionable mind drew grand conclusions from the family stories that most likely would have surprised the adults in the family. In The Danger Tree, the author explores the truths behind his childhood embellishments of the family story, and rather than expressing disillusionment over the "clay feet" of his childhood heroes, he demonstrates a deeper respect for their ambitions, successes, failures, and resilience.

World War I had a defining role in both the history of the Goodyear family and of Newfoundland itself. Macfarlane suggests that the Great War was a pivotal moment in Newfoundland's history that led ultimately to its union with Canada by the mid-20th century rather than to national independence. In the Goodyear family, five of the six brothers volunteered for service in the war. Three didn't return, and the other two suffered injuries. I was particularly struck by the poignancy of this passage describing the lasting effects of the loss of the three brothers:

"It was a different family after the war. Something was gone from the heart of it. Ray's innocence and enthusiasm would never temper Ken's guile and ambition; Stan's charm and level-headedness would never leaven my grandfather's stubbornness; Hedley's wisdom and learning would never sustain Roland's flights of fancy. Somehow the wrong combination survived. Fights erupted in their absence. A balance was never regained."

Macfarlane gives his book a broader appeal by tying his family stories and Newfoundland history to world events. Highly recommended to family historians, social historians, World War I buffs, and Newfoundlanders. ( )

One of the best memoirs I've ever read, though it's not really a memoir. One of the best family history books I've ever read, and yet it isn't that either. Hands-down my favorite book about Newfoundland so far. This is a masterful work, filled with insight, thoughtfulness about the past, dead ancestors, and what they mean to those of us still living, even if we'd never met them. The ending was striking--I'll probably never forget the image he painted on the last page. Loved it from start to finish. ( )