Book Review: I Piped, That She Might Dance by Iain MacDonald

Angus MacKay (1815-1859), Queen Victoria’s First Piper, died by drowning in the Nith River and his body was never found. His later life was a jumble of the highs and lows of manic depression, although many have assumed that syphilis was the cause of the insanity that ultimately led to his death. The treatment of the mentally ill in those years was poorly understood and even more poorly treated. This first novel by Saskatchewan author, Iain MacDonald, is an imagined autobiography of Angus Mackay, a man who contributed his music and writing his music to Scotland and to England. He rose from a croft on the island of Raasay, Scotland to become the Queen’s First Piper in London. He and his brothers were taught to play the bagpipes by his father, John MacKay. John MacKay is also a renowned and remembered piper from Raasay.

I spoke briefly with Iain MacDonald at a book event this spring. His goal was to give Angus MacKay a voice. He wrote skillfully, writing from Angus Mackay’s mind as a boy, as a young man and in his decline. The passages at Bedlam where he was first incarcerated and his continuing decline, take us into a mind who believed desperately in his delusions. Well researched, it was obvious to this author that, because of his decline into insanity, he was only footnoted in history. Many details were found in hospital records at Bedlam, and after he was moved to a more enlightened facility at the Crichton Royal Institution at Dumfries. 

Angus MacKay did marry and had four children. The author imagined an initially happy marriage that slowly deteriorated, along with his penchant for drink, the onset of his insanity and the demands of his employment for Queen Victoria. He was frequently away from home at Royal Events and played each morning for the Queen while she was breakfasting. Iain MacDonald also showed the rude treatment that anyone from the Highland received from the English.

Besides a forward by Professor Hugh Cheape of Scotland, the author has included a Gaelic Glossary, and a comprehensive list of Further Reading. Author Iain Macdonald was founder and long time pipe major of the City of Regina Pipe Band (1992 - 2022) with extensive band experience.

“A chuid de Phàrras dha.”

“May he have his place in paradise.”

~ Iain MacDonald, Gaelic Glossary, 

I Piped, That She May Dance

Title: I Piped, That She Might Dance

Author: Iain MacDonald

Copyright: 2021

Publisher: Printed and bound in Canada by Imprimerie Gauvin

Type: Novel

Format: Paperback

ISBN - 978-1-7357747-0-1