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The Arm of Gold
"The Arm of Gold" is set in Ravanoke on the Bras d'Or Lakes in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. When some affluent American visitors come to Ravanoke for a fishing holiday, their car gets stuck and some local residents help them out. This novel explores the social, cultural and religious issues facing the community in the dynamic 1920s when modernisation reached deep into small Cape Breton communities.
- GenresCanada
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1932
8 people want to read
About the author
Ralph Connor
137 books7 followersUniversity of Toronto educated Charles William Gordon, ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1890. Under the pseudonym Ralph Connor, he published more than thirty novels, including
The Man from Glengarry
(1901) and
Glengarry School Days
(1902). These novels made him an internationally best-selling author.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 13, 2016
I grew up in the era of the Social Gospel of 1950s Southern Ontario and Ralph Connor's books were on the family bookshelf, and on the accepted reading list. Ralph Connor is the pen name for Rev. Dr. Charles William Gordon, a Church leader in the Presbyterian and latter United Church of Canada. By age eleven I had read The Man from Glengarry (1901) and The Girl from Glengarry (1933). Only in 2016 did I chance on Ralph Connor's (1932) The Arm of Gold, which refers to Bras d'Or lake in Cape Breton. I read in the Summer Issue of Atlantic Books that Gwendolyn Davies and Formac Publishing had brought back Maritime Classics for modern readers, including The Arm of Gold. https://issuu.com/atlanticbookstoday/...
I was intrigued that the book was about the cooperative movement in Cape Breton after the Great Depression. I was well acquainted with the Antigonish Movement as much of my practice and research at St. Francis Xavier University has focused on the cooperative movement. It was a joy to read The Arm of Gold through the lens of knowing that Ralph Connor spent nine weeks in the Maritime Provinces in 1917, which included a stop in Antigonish in a violent snowstorm, where he met and came to admire the Catholic priest, Reverend Jimmy Tompkins. This is a long prologue to a review of the book. I have not read anything in the historical records that captures a real-to-life dialogue and rivalries around organizing a cooperative. Victoria County in Cape Breton is predominantly Protestant and Rev. Hector MacGregor, the Presbyterian Minister, is the protagonist in developing the Bras d'Or Cooperative Association. He has his challengers, who do not believe that a Church leader has any business dabbling in economic matters -- and most objectionable, from the pulpit. The women in his congregation turn out to be his greatest supporters. Connor wrote the book after the Stock Market Crash but the setting for the book is post-war 1920s. Connor develops the theme of the precarious nature of trading stocks to drive the plot of the story. PTSD was not a diagnosis when Connor wrote the book, but Hector's brother Jock carries all the symptoms of the war wounded. This book is a fine example of how PTSD affects a family and a tight-knit community, and how important community is for healing from war. Finally, this book is a feel-good romance, which is what I most remember from reading Ralph Connor in my youth. It occurred to me that the stolen kisses and passionate embraces that stipple Connor's narrative are more thrilling than any graphic sexual encounters that we have come to expect in a 21st century romance.
I was intrigued that the book was about the cooperative movement in Cape Breton after the Great Depression. I was well acquainted with the Antigonish Movement as much of my practice and research at St. Francis Xavier University has focused on the cooperative movement. It was a joy to read The Arm of Gold through the lens of knowing that Ralph Connor spent nine weeks in the Maritime Provinces in 1917, which included a stop in Antigonish in a violent snowstorm, where he met and came to admire the Catholic priest, Reverend Jimmy Tompkins. This is a long prologue to a review of the book. I have not read anything in the historical records that captures a real-to-life dialogue and rivalries around organizing a cooperative. Victoria County in Cape Breton is predominantly Protestant and Rev. Hector MacGregor, the Presbyterian Minister, is the protagonist in developing the Bras d'Or Cooperative Association. He has his challengers, who do not believe that a Church leader has any business dabbling in economic matters -- and most objectionable, from the pulpit. The women in his congregation turn out to be his greatest supporters. Connor wrote the book after the Stock Market Crash but the setting for the book is post-war 1920s. Connor develops the theme of the precarious nature of trading stocks to drive the plot of the story. PTSD was not a diagnosis when Connor wrote the book, but Hector's brother Jock carries all the symptoms of the war wounded. This book is a fine example of how PTSD affects a family and a tight-knit community, and how important community is for healing from war. Finally, this book is a feel-good romance, which is what I most remember from reading Ralph Connor in my youth. It occurred to me that the stolen kisses and passionate embraces that stipple Connor's narrative are more thrilling than any graphic sexual encounters that we have come to expect in a 21st century romance.
October 3, 2017
An entertaining if rather morally didactic novel about small town Nova Scotia in the interim war period. I found this novel, sans jacket and blurb, at a side-of-the-road antique store near Kincardine, Ontario. As it starts off with a female boat driver being a bad ass, I found the price ($5) acceptable and I’m glad I purchased it. Despite being a staunch atheist, I didn’t find the religious bent to the novel that annoying (I only skipped over a couple pages at one point that I knew was just a sermon plunked in the middle of the novel), as for a book written in the 30s, it had a lot of other aspects that overruled the obvious points the author was making about humbleness and religion and blah blah blah.
What did I enjoy? WWI is a my “favorite” war (if you can say that without sounding callus) primarily because of how it affected society. The Arm of Gold really does paint a portrait of how small towns were affected by the death of so many young men (as well as those, like Jock) who were “ruined” by it (aka PTSD/Shellshock). I very much enjoyed the female characters – Vivian, Daphne, Logie, Mary and even the old lady acted like real women. True, every time a male character threatened to “spank” a grown woman I rolled my eyes, but I have read novels from the 2010s that had more poorly written female characters. The men were well done too, at least Connor strove to give them different personalities. I wouldn't say any of the characters are very deep, but they were likable.
I enjoyed the scenery – Eastern Canada is such a beautiful place. I like stories set in small towns – there’s a quaintness to them.
I also enjoyed the slow burn love stories. True, they could have been deepened greatly (it was obvious from the get-go who was going to fall for whom), but it had a Victorian sensibility to it, which was cute. Sometimes it’s nice to read a story where everything works out.
That being said, I didn’t love the book. It was heavy-handed in its religious themes, very heavy-handed in denouncing the evils of the stock-market (which makes sense, given when it was written), the love stories (as I mentioned) were quite obvious, and there wasn’t much of a plot. It was more of a slice of life of a small town than anything else.
But if you like a novel that reads like a slow walk through a balmy meadow, you might get something out of it.
What did I enjoy? WWI is a my “favorite” war (if you can say that without sounding callus) primarily because of how it affected society. The Arm of Gold really does paint a portrait of how small towns were affected by the death of so many young men (as well as those, like Jock) who were “ruined” by it (aka PTSD/Shellshock). I very much enjoyed the female characters – Vivian, Daphne, Logie, Mary and even the old lady acted like real women. True, every time a male character threatened to “spank” a grown woman I rolled my eyes, but I have read novels from the 2010s that had more poorly written female characters. The men were well done too, at least Connor strove to give them different personalities. I wouldn't say any of the characters are very deep, but they were likable.
I enjoyed the scenery – Eastern Canada is such a beautiful place. I like stories set in small towns – there’s a quaintness to them.
I also enjoyed the slow burn love stories. True, they could have been deepened greatly (it was obvious from the get-go who was going to fall for whom), but it had a Victorian sensibility to it, which was cute. Sometimes it’s nice to read a story where everything works out.
That being said, I didn’t love the book. It was heavy-handed in its religious themes, very heavy-handed in denouncing the evils of the stock-market (which makes sense, given when it was written), the love stories (as I mentioned) were quite obvious, and there wasn’t much of a plot. It was more of a slice of life of a small town than anything else.
But if you like a novel that reads like a slow walk through a balmy meadow, you might get something out of it.
June 19, 2016
The beginning is strong: there is a romance, there is a conflict, there is a grief, etc. Then the Americans arrive and the story becomes stereotypical, moralizing and rather artificial. The Americans, of course, are rich-and-spoiled-but-unhappy, while the country people are honest, hardworking and God-obeying. Having spent a few weeks in such a nice environment, the Americans become much better: they stop drinking cocktails and trading in stock market.
The problem is that the author writes about the post-WWI times. Most of protagonists are in their twenties and have been at the frontline, either as soldiers or as nurses. They've seen death, they lost brothers and friends. It's the generation of Erich Maria Remarque and Ernest Hemingway. The author himself never went to any war. He was a nice Canadian pastor, deep in pre-war culture, and he was well over 60 when he wrote this novel. I simply don't believe that a batch of young people of 1920th who returned from the Great War could be THAT old-fashioned and idealistic. Even if they come from a nice and poor Scottish village in Cape Breton :)
Ralph Connor is certainly a talented writer. So, despite all the above the book is rather readable. Especially if you are interested in history: how did people live in 1920th countryside, how they heated their houses, cooked meal, washed etc. etc.
Also,mI was amazed by the author's naïve nationalism: apparently, the Highlanders, by the very fact being Highlanders, have a great number of moral qualities. Even if they were born in Canada, cannot speak Gaelic and have never visited Scotland. If, occasionally, someone in the village is too greedy, the explanation is usually simple: "He is no Highlander" :)
The problem is that the author writes about the post-WWI times. Most of protagonists are in their twenties and have been at the frontline, either as soldiers or as nurses. They've seen death, they lost brothers and friends. It's the generation of Erich Maria Remarque and Ernest Hemingway. The author himself never went to any war. He was a nice Canadian pastor, deep in pre-war culture, and he was well over 60 when he wrote this novel. I simply don't believe that a batch of young people of 1920th who returned from the Great War could be THAT old-fashioned and idealistic. Even if they come from a nice and poor Scottish village in Cape Breton :)
Ralph Connor is certainly a talented writer. So, despite all the above the book is rather readable. Especially if you are interested in history: how did people live in 1920th countryside, how they heated their houses, cooked meal, washed etc. etc.
Also,mI was amazed by the author's naïve nationalism: apparently, the Highlanders, by the very fact being Highlanders, have a great number of moral qualities. Even if they were born in Canada, cannot speak Gaelic and have never visited Scotland. If, occasionally, someone in the village is too greedy, the explanation is usually simple: "He is no Highlander" :)
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews