Reading Nantucket Blue by Leila Howland on Nantucket Island

The Rainbow Parade at Nantucket Island on August 15, 2013 © sarahlaurence.com

Step Beach © sarahlaurence.com

Every summer since I was a child, my family gathers on Nantucket Island. This year I read Nantucket Blue on location. I was impressed that young adult author Leila Howland found Step Beach. The access path is nestled between houses on the Cliff and then descends wooden steps to a long narrow beach. It's popular with us dog walkers. She also found my favorite sandwich: Something Natural's Cheddar and Chutney (but add avocado on pumpernickel.)

Howland has a good ear for teens and a fine eye for amusing details. Although it sounds like satire, many summer people actually dress like this:

"The parents were dressed in clothes as vivid as their children's. Grown men wore kelly-green pants stitched with yellow whales."

Unlike her best friend Jules, 17-year-old Cricket is not super rich. She had planned to stay at Jules's summerhouse, but when Jules's mom dies, the invitation is rescinded. Resourceful Cricket finds a chambermaid job with free housing (this is fiction!) so she can be there for her friend. Their unbalanced friendship was well rendered with clever foreshadowing:

"I liked the way I felt around Jules- like I was tipping backward in a chair, on the edge of falling."

When grieving Jules turns her back on her best friend, Cricket falls into a clandestine relationship with Jules's younger brother. Zack is a nice boy, but young is not the same as innocent. Sex is on the mind of all the characters, although the act is not described in print. The writing style was typical of the romance genre, but there were some nice additions like phosphorescence in the night sea. Having a younger boyfriend was a fresh tack too. The setting made Nantucket Blue an ideal beach book.

Sunset at Brant Point, Nantucket Island © sarahlaurence.com

It was a welcome surprise to find that Nantucket Blue was more than a summer romance. With an eye on college applications, Cricket takes a second job as an unpaid intern for an author writing a senator's biography. At this point, I'd hoped we'd get some meaningful reflection on politics, but the biographer's focus was on the senator's ruthless social climbing and scandalous secrets. This angle would certainly appeal to the young adult audience. Teens often view the world through the polarized lenses of popularity.

Like many debut novels, Nantucket Blue suffered a bit from an overworked ending. Cricket works too hard to tie up all plot strings: she confronts a former flame and then flies off island for two days to resolve backstory issues with her family. The story would have felt more realistic with some uncertainty. It was still an impressive debut overall. I look forward to reading more by this talented author.

I'd recommend Nantucket Blue to teenaged girls and to Nantucket vacationers especially. The Beach House by Jane Green, also set on Nantucket Island, would be a better choice for adult readers.

Reviewer's Disclosure: I bought the ebook because the cover would have embarrassed my teenage kids if I were reading beside them on the beach. The hardcover book was prominently displayed at Nantucket Bookworks, where I bought The Age of Miracles in paperback and Beautiful Ruins on CD.

My Photo is the Cover of a New Song

You might remember the photo from my Oxford Sabbatical Highlights post. I never thought this whimsical image would end up on the cover of a CD...my three minutes of fame.

I'm on blog vacation next week. I'll be back online August 28th. Happy Summer!

Saving Simpsons Point & Watching the Tides

My town has several boat launches, but Simpsons Point is the only public access to ocean swimming. On hot summer days at high tide, a friendly mix of locals and summer visitors gather. Real Mainers don't seem to mind hypothermia, but I grew up in New York City. My idea of a two-piece bathing suit is this wet suit. Laugh at me through your blue lips.

My favorite time to swim is early morning, when the tide cooperates. Peeking through the mist, islands hide from the rising sun. Every stroke is a brush on canvas, rippling the placid blue. Sometimes my husband and I spot a kayaker or a harbor seal, but mostly we're alone with the shorebirds. To warm up, we bike 4 miles back to our house in town. There is no better way to start a day.

When in Maine, check a tide chart before swimming or boating. At low tide estuaries become mudflats. Simpsons Point is best within 2 hours of high tide.

Brunswick Residents: tonight the Marine Resource Committee is considering a proposal to re-open Simpsons Point to power boats. If you're a swimmer or a paddler, please come in support of Brunswick's only public swimming access to the sea. Tonight's meeting will be at Brunswick Station at 7PM on Wednesday August 5th (wrong date printed in the Times Record yesterday). A second meeting will be on Monday August 12th at 5PM. More info in The Times Record.

Painting on the Coast of Maine

Watercolor Painting of Sagahadoc Bay, Georgetown, Maine

At this time of year, I swap my writer's cap for an artist's cap. In late summer and early autumn, the light sharpens, making the colors more intense. It's warm but not too hot to sit outside painting for hours. With my eyes trained on a distant horizon, instead of a computer screen, my vision improves (confusing my optometrist). I hoard sunshine to get through the long winter. Can you believe it's already the end of July?

This year my painting time will double count as book research: my next young adult novel will be set in coastal Maine. Once my kids are back in school, I'll head to Monhegan Island with my art bag and a notebook for a few days. I love my jobs!

The above watercolor of Sagahadoc Bay will be flying to a new home in London. The client is an ex-pat American with a summer house near my home, but we didn't meet in person. She found my blog through my book reviews. Her family wants to bring a part of Maine back to England with them. I'm pleased to see my painting go to a loving new home.

Even after six years of blogging, it still amazes me that two women with similar life stories (my family has lived in England too) can meet almost randomly in cyberspace. Blogging makes the world seem both smaller and bigger. We are part of a community that stretches beyond national boarders. And what a beautiful world it is!

Maine Artists: note that this year state tax returns must be filed twice. General sales tax in Maine is rising from 5% to 5.5% in October. One return is due October 15th and the other (October-December sales) is due January 15th. Sigh. At least this doesn't affect out of state sales.

A perfect day: Popham Beach and Spinney's

My daughter, just back from a month backpacking in Wyoming, said she missed the sea. On Sunday we drove a half an hour from our home to our favorite beach, Popham State Park. My daughter, her friend and my intrepid husband bodysurfed until their lips turned blue.

I swam in a wetsuit top and read The End of the Point. It's getting harder to save this beautiful novel for beach days only. Sometimes I think Elizabeth Graver is writing just to me: "Still, I want to think and talk about things that matter, to have conversations I return from changed."

At dinner time, we walked/waded two miles down the beach to Spinney's for good local seafood. My British husband ordered fish and chips, of course. I had my usual lobster roll and Vidalia onion rings (theirs are the best) with Lobster Ale (a red ale) on tap from Belfast, Maine. Despite living her entire life in Maine, our daughter doesn't like seafood. For a month of backpacking she had to live off dehydrated beans and cornmeal so she dug into a steak and cheese sub. Her friend had a shrimp roll, also locally fished. Ah, the taste of summer!

At Spinney's the service is slow and there is no air conditioning, but the view is well worth it. The building with the red roof is the Life Saving Station (1883). The lighthouse marks Pond Island offshore.

Later we pulled on fleeces to watch the moonrise from the beach. The heat wave has finally passed, and we are back to low 80's days and cool nights. Why go away for vacation if you live in Maine? Well, at least in summer...