MacIsaac interviewed nearly 100 descendants of Highland Scots women and provides this heart-and-soul treatment of the lives of Scots immigrants from women's perspective. She includes an extensive look at women in teaching, nursing and religious congregations. This is an exploration of the traditions and experiences in the lives of Highland Scottish women - in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and in the eastern counties of Nova Scotia where so many of them settled (Pictou, Antigonish, Inverness and Victoria counties primarily). In A Better Life, oral accounts obtained from descendants, enriched by written sources - precious archival collections and rare books - offer insight into the influences central to the cultural, religious, working, caring and devotional lives of Highland women: the dreams and realities of a better life if Nova Scotia.

A shelflist is the record of the books in a library arranged in the order in which they appear on the shelves. It has traditionally served two main purposes: as an inventory record of the books in the library and as an indispensable tool for assigning new numbers to books that are added to the collection.