Audio recording consists of Bridget Moran reading chapter excerpts from her manuscript “Where Words Come Sweet” [later title of manuscript is “The Horizontal Land” which tells the tale of the Doonan family, Kate who Bridget notes “developed as a volatile woman, quick to anger, quick to tears” and her husband Charlie, a “classic quiet Irishman, in fact, rather like my own father” and their children who emigrate to the South Saskatchewan River country in September 1924. As Moran describes in a letter “in short, my novel is a rather light-hearted, hopefully, authentic look at the Saskatchewan of 1924. I was at pains to avoid the dust storm-grasshopper-flat terrain syndrome, and instead to portray the beauty of south Saskatchewan as I knew it, the wonderful blend of ethnic groups, and the richness in character of the people who have lived there.”
Audiocassette Summary
Side 1
Title: Where Words Come Sweet #1
Scope and Content: Bridget Moran reads a chapter from her story entitled “Where Words Come Sweet”. The account of the Doonan family – Charlie and Kate and their children living in the pre-Depression era on the Canadian Prairies
- Kate immerses herself in the Catholic church and its rituals
- Priest Father Boncoeur talks about generosity of those who donate to the Church
- Charlie has difficulty with the Church asking for money same as in Ireland and leaves the Church because of it;
- Conflict between Charlie & Kate regarding religion
- Prairie winter blizzard described
- End of chapter
In this audio segment Bridget reads excerpt from Chapter 17 “Hail Mary, Full of Grace” which provides the account of Father Duroc who Bridget notes in the chapter synopsis “reads out the contributors and the contributions to the church, leading to war in the Doonan household.” And of Kate’s immersion in the Catholic faith and its rituals
Side 2
Title: Where Winds Come Sweet #2
Scope & Content: Bridget Moran explains that the inspiration for the title of the manuscript, Where Winds Come Sweet was derived from a poem by Pauline Johnson – Harvest Time. Bridget proceeds to read the poem. Then Bridget describes the main characters and provides a brief synopsis: The story of an Irish Catholic family, the Doonans, who came from Ireland, originally to Ontario and then to the South Saskatchewan River country in 1924. Bridget describes the characters: Kate & Charlie Doonan, and their kids: Kevin, Patty, Mick, Bridie, Mary, and J.T. She also describes two other characters Barney and Gladys Mullins– caretakers. Bridget reads a version of the chapter “The Teacher Cometh” – noted on audio recording as Chapter 7 [in a later version of this manuscript from November 1981 this chapter is Chapter 14]. The chapter describes the coming of a school teacher Miss Doris Sutton who makes life difficult for the residents – specifically the women folk as the men in the community come to be enamoured with her. This chapter describes how Kate overcomes her dislike for the teacher Miss Sutton, how she spends a weekend with the Doonans and how they become friends.
Bridget then provides a synopsis of another chapter that she entitles on the recording as “Unholy Deadlock” In a later version of the manuscript from November 1981 this chapter is entitled “Give Us This Day” Chapter 16 and describes how Father Duroc arrives in the community in January 1925 and stays with the French Canadian family the Bouchard’s]
In the next audio segment Bridget reads excerpt from Chapter 17 “Hail Mary, Full of Grace” which provides the account of Father Duroc who Bridget notes in the chapter synopsis “reads out the contributors and the contributions to the church, leading to war in the Doonan household.”
