The Saga of Murdo MacLeod

In The Saga of Murdo MacLeod, the first graphic novel in his series on Canadian history from Mike Burns’ six published stories, L’Eau de La Vie /The Water of Life (Chemin des Cantons, 2009), Montreal filmmaker G. Scott MacLeod fuses rich pencil drawings with Mike Burns’ story to provide a deeply moving depiction of an iconic early Canadian immigrant experience. Expelled from their land on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, Murdo MacLeod and his clan are given passage as ballast on a timber ship bound for Lower Canada. It is the late 1830s. Those who survive the voyage arrive in Quebec City with nothing more than axes in hand and speaking only Gaelic amongst the French and English population. With winter fast approaching, they find their only hope for survival in the hands of Canada’s first people.