A copy of "Monhegan Stories," courtesy Monhegan Museum of Art & History.

Working Waterfront

A Monhegan media montage, circa 1900

A story of romance. A list of plants. A mash-up of fact and fiction about Monhegan Island’s people and places circa 1900. These and more are what is within a handmade, leather-bound book that is now part of the Monhegan Museum of Art & History’s collection. The book of about… SEE MORE

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Beyond the illusion

The Midcoast By Adam White (Random House Books, 2022) Review by Tina Cohen Adam White’s debut novel, The Midcoast, is set in Damariscotta, a town familiar to him from his childhood. This is contemporary Maine, with a close-up look at several families, including Andrew’s, who is the book’s narrator, and… SEE MORE

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The perils of love and lobstering

Maiden Cove: A Novel By Roy Knight (2020) Review by Dana Wilde Roy Knight grew up just about a stone’s throw from Maiden Cove, right on the channel into Portland Harbor between Cape Elizabeth and Cushing Island. As a teenager in the mid-1960s, he learned lobstering in that channel from… SEE MORE

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The view of Maine from the reservation

Night of the Living Rez: Stories By Morgan Talty, Tin House (2022) Review by Tina Cohen When I started reading Morgan Talty’s debut book, Night of the Living Rez, I saw it as a “coming of age” story, with its focus on a few teenage boys, Native American, growing up… SEE MORE

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Going deep on Russian lit

Monkey: A Russian Novel By Agnes Bushell; Littoral Books, 2022 Review by Dana Wilde Agnes Bushell’s latest novel Monkey is in some ways a very conventional and in other ways a very peculiar book. We’ll get to the peculiarity in a moment (note the subtitle, “A Russian Novel”), but meanwhile… SEE MORE

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Biblical echoes in Maine community life

Speak to the Winds By Ruth Moore, Islandport Press edition, 2022, first published 1956 Review by Tina Cohen Ruth Moore (1903-1989) was born on Gotts Island off Mount Desert Island. Growing up there, she witnessed the transition of that small fishing village into more of a summer colony with its… SEE MORE

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Island doctor reflects on personal costs

Island Medicine: Life, Healing, and Community on a Maine Island By Dr. Chuck Radis (Down East Books, 2022) Review by Tina Cohen Dr. Chuck Radis’s first book, Go By Boat: Stories of a Maine Island Doctor, was published in 2021. Now his second is out, Island Medicine: Life, Healing, and… SEE MORE

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Trail death probed with obsessive detail

Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders By Kathryn Miles; Algonquin Books of Ch2022; $28.95. Review by Dana Wilde Kate Miles arrived at Unity College in 2001 as a writing instructor and a backpacking enthusiast at a school devoted to backpacking. She’d heard that a Unity student and… SEE MORE

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Chris Van Dusen does it again

Big Truck, Little Island By Chris Van Dusen (Candlewick Press, 2022) Review by Carl Little Grandchildren Maria, 9, Serita, 8, and James, 5, are children’s book author/illustrator Chris Van Dusen aficionados. Allow Gahbi (their nickname for this grampa) to boast a bit: they’ve memorized The Circus Ship, made up music… SEE MORE

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An island’s story reveals a life

Autobiography of an Island: A Memoir By Sarah Faragher (2021) Review by Carl Little In 2004, while visiting Great Spruce Head Island, painter Sarah Faragher had the occasion to explore nearby Bear Island. Conversing with a Bear islander, she learned of Birch Lodge, a humble dwelling that could be rented… SEE MORE