Working Waterfront

Reflections on the spirit of winter

Winter: Notes and Numina from the Maine Woods By Dana Wilde, North Country Press 2021 Review by Dave Morrison While on a morning walk one early December, author Dana Wilde grew disoriented, unmoored in the season and the day. The low-slung sun and long shadows played tricks with his perception—day… SEE MORE

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In the wake of sexual assault

The Damage By Caitlin Wahrer (Viking) Review by Carl Little “The dying detective’s house was a tall, dark blue thing with chipping trim and shutters.” That is how Caitlin Wahrer’s captivating debut novel, The Damage, begins: a simple expository sentence featuring detail and intrigue. In the ensuing story, Wahrer guides… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

More Maine voices: tales from here, everywhere

Most of the 16 stories collected in North by Northeast 2: New Short Fiction by Maine Writers are set in Maine, and most of them approach their subject matter fairly realistically. Some, though, go outside the boundaries of conventional realism. Several stories by contributors to North by Northeast 1 (published… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

The Midcoast’s master of realistic sci-fi

The Best of Elizabeth Hand By Elizabeth Hand, edited by Bill Sheehan (2021) Death, darkness, dismay, and the supernatural are hallmark characteristics of Elizabeth Hand’s highly literary weird fiction, and The Best of Elizabeth Hand collects a dozen exemplary stories from across her long career. The book contains a number… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

A tasty how-to: Maine’s homegrown food

The Maine Farm Table Cookbook: 125 Homegrown Recipes from the Pine Tree State By Kate Shaffer (Countryman Press, 2021) The Maine Farm Table Cookbook, part of its publisher’s “Farm Table” series, is authored by Kate Shaffer, who comes credentialed with some Downeast culinary experience and, notably, founder of Black Dinah’s… SEE MORE

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Whiteness and Maine’s ‘distinct alien race’

A Distinct Alien Race: The Untold Story of Franco-Americans By David Vermette (2018) Growing up in the Midcoast, the only thing I knew about French-Canadians was what I learned from my dad. He said the stereotype was of the “dumb Frenchman” who usually took shop classes in high school and… SEE MORE

he Gold Ball-winning basketball team from Narraguagus High School, 2016, with their coach, the lobster fisherman "Olivia Marshall" in the book, whose real name is Heather Thompson (back row, far right). The team is aboard the fishing boat Thompson named in honor of the championship team. “Audrey Barton”—whose real name is Kelli Kennedy—is in the back row, third from left. “Mckenna Holt”—whose real name is Laniew Perry—is in the back row, next to Olivia Marshall.

Working Waterfront

‘Downeast’ strikes a blow against ‘the geography of nowhere’

In this difficult time of failed public expectations, when thoughtful people wonder where to look for hope, I keep returning in my own mind to the thought of the renewal of the rural communities… But to be authentic, a true encouragement and a true beginning, this would have to be… SEE MORE

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The noise of life after war

Silence: A Novel By William Carpenter (2021) Reading Silence: A Novel, by Maine author and College of the Atlantic professor William Carpenter, made me think of traversing the terrain of a Penobscot Bay rocky island—which is largely the setting for this story. One needs to stay constantly aware of the… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Memoir traces abuse, addiction, and revival

Walking With Ghosts By Gabriel Byrne (Grove Press, 2021) Since reading Gabriel Byrne’s recently published memoir Walking With Ghosts, I’ve delayed watching the newest HBO season of In Treatment in favor of first re-watching the previous three, which aired 2008-2010. Those star Byrne, who won a Golden Globe for his… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Finding the origins of the nation’s origin story

Six months to the day after supporters of President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, Colin Woodard stood on the grass of Camden Public Library’s amphitheater, looking over the harbor where the late afternoon sun bathed boats in a golden glow. The idyllic scene was a long way from the chaos… SEE MORE