Working Waterfront

Family ties fray on a Maine island

The Guest Book By Sarah Blake; Flatiron Books, New York Review by Dana Wilde Toward the very end of Sarah Blake’s insightful novel, The Guest Book, one of the principal characters is collecting mussels on the shore of fictional Crockett’s Island, which lies just across a narrows from the real… SEE MORE
Book cover detail

Working Waterfront

Paul Doiron’s game warden heads north

One Last Lie By Paul Doiron, Minotaur Books The title “game warden” conjures images of men and women in forest-green fatigues with a mission to steward natural resources, which in Maine primarily means moose, bear, and deer, along with fish and fowl. Thanks to Paul Doiron’s Mike Bowditch mystery novel… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The pulsating kaleidoscope of Jill Hoy’s world

If we could see the Maine coast through Jill Hoy’s eyes, it might be like looking through a broken kaleidoscope. You’d still be able to make out the shapes of rock, tree, sea, headland, and boat, but their angular components would become saturated and vibrate with color. In a lively… SEE MORE
Steadfast cover

Working Waterfront

Children’s author brings worker rights champion to life

It was clothing and a tragedy that brought Jennifer Merz and Frances Perkins together. Merz, who recently retired to Phippsburg with her husband, is a collage artist and writer who has published three children’s books; the third, in September, is Steadfast: Frances Perkins, Champion of Workers’ Rights. Perkins (1880-1965) was… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Jane Crosen’s new, old Hancock County atlas

As far as I’m concerned, every map is a treasure map. In our first years in Maine, there were many Saturday mornings in which I’d pore over the Maine Atlas and Gazetteer, scoping out a minor road that might offer views of a bay or ocean. Later, I collected hand-drawn maps of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

An affectionate history of Maine

However dimmed, deferred, or deleted by the coronavirus, Maine’s bicentennial marches on. The milestone is providing an opportunity to claim pride and/or acknowledge failings in our history, to draw lessons from our past, to highlight the ups and downs and in-betweens. For journalist-historian Earl Brechlin, the 200th birthday is also… SEE MORE