Working Waterfront

Telling stories about the birds

Birds, says field biologist Richard MacDonald of Bar Harbor, have been “a unifying theme” in his life. At age ten MacDonald was banding ducks and in college he carried binoculars wherever he went. And for the past several decades he has led birding expeditions, local and way away (Antarctica), while running the Natural History Center on Mount Desert Island. SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Why paper was king, and why it was deposed

Shredding Paper: The Rise and Fall of Maine’s Mighty Paper Industry By Michael G. Hillard Understanding Maine’s once-gigantic paper industry and what happened to it is a matter of perspective. Michael Hillard, author of Shredding Paper, a well-researched look at the mills that once employed thousands in communities all over… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Poetry embedded in a fisherman’s diary

Review by Dana Wilde Didn’t Do Much but a Little of Everything: The Eagle Island Diary of Dalton Raynes Ian Ludders, ed.; Lulu.com It’s about 1961, a sunny day somewhere in Scarborough. Spread over what seems, to my 8-year-old eyes, like acres and acres of dry field, are sardine… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

When jobs have deadly consequences

Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains Kerri Arsenault (2020) Review by Tina Cohen Mill Town, with no specific location in its title, could refer to a lot of places. Here it refers to Rumford, where Arsenault grew up in the adjacent town of Mexico, across the Androscoggin River from the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘Till the landslide brought me down

Landslide By Susan Conley Review by Carl Little Early in season one of the FX series Fargo the ex-stripper Gina Hess says of her misbehaving teenage sons, “They’re wolves.” This appraisal came to mind near the beginning of Susan Conley’s fourth novel Landslide when the chief protagonist and narrator, Jillian… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A return to the joy of cooking and eating

Eventide: Recipes for Clambakes, Oysters, Lobster Rolls, and More From a Modern Maine Seafood Shack Arlin Smith, Andrew Taylor, Mike Wiley with Sam Hiersteiner Is it because of COVID and quarantining, not dining in restaurants, or cooking special meals to share with family and friends for months now that I… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A well-lived life in Maine boat design

Of Watercraft and Function: A Biography of Naval Architect Geerd N. Hendel By Roger Allen Moody A documented, remembered career is a form of immortality. A career as long and distinguished as that of Geerd Hendel, the German-American naval architect who worked in New York, Boston, Bath, and Camden deserves… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

‘Creeping creepy’ stalks island in The Other Mrs.

The Other Mrs. by Mary Kubica Park Row Books, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2020 For centuries, there’s been nothing like an island on the remote coast of remote Maine to spark the imaginations of writers and artists, both native and non-native. It can be an idyllic summer paradise of sailboats and… SEE MORE

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

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