Abbott's Reach
Written by Ardeana Hamlin
$16.95
Softcover, Historical fiction
ISBN: 978-1-934031-42-1
Abbott's Reach is available as an e-book in all major e-book formats including:
· Amazon Kindle
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· For iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch
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REVIEWS
"The characters are bright, amusing and entertaining, and the adventure Hamlin has brewed is turbulent as a tempest at times, but also full of light and beauty, both local and foreign. When you pick up the book, choose a comfortable seat on a rainy day, because the many forks in M's road will keep you guessing which way the story will go. "
– Aislinn Sarnacki, Bangor Daily News
"... a masterpiece of vivid historical accuracy. Vibrant character development and intricate, careful plotting, provide colorful and exciting insight into Maine's seafaring families in the 1870s."
– Bill Bushnell, Morning (Waterville) Sentinel
ABOUT THE BOOK
Set in nineteenth century Maine, Abbott's Reach is the story of a headstrong and emotional young woman setting sail on her honeymoon voyage with her sea captain husband. Their travels around Cape Horn to Hawaii and back home again, are rife with excitement, romance, adventure and family strife. This gripping novel is the sequel to the author's now-classic Pink Chimneys, set around a notorious Bangor brothel.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ardeana Hamlin grew up in Bingham, Maine, in the 1950s and 1960s in the days of the river drives, the veneer mill and the woods operations. Now a newspaper journalist, she lives in Hamden, Maine, and is the author of two previous novels, Pink Chimneys and A Dream of Paris.
EXCERPT
“Mercy Maude Giddings pointed her chin resolutely into the
wind blowing up the channel of Maine's Penobscot Bay, where it flowed around Verona Island and narrowed to become the river. The breeze pulled her dark auburn hair, free of its pins, away from
her fine, freckled face. She held her faded blue cotton skirt out of the water that lapped at her bare toes. She had wrapped an old gray shawl hastily around her shoulders. It was her sister Grace's birthday, and she had come to the water, as she always did on that day, to commune with the past.
"The tide was running out fast. Tangled as it was in the hard, swift current of the Penobscot River flowing toward the Atlantic, the water's surface showed crinkles and creases, signs of a treacherous
undertow. The action of those currents, river and tide, created the thin spit of sandbar shaped like a ship's anchor where Mercy -- always called M -- stood looking out across the water.
”
AUTHOR Q and A
We asked Maine writer Ardeana Hamlin to answer some questions about her work, her inspirations, and her new novel.
Q: Why did you decide to write a sequel to Pink Chimneys?
A: Pink Chimneys readers kept asking me to write one.
Q: That being said, we're sure your fans want to know, what took so long? It's been 24 years since Pink Chimneys was published.
A: It took me so long because after I wrote Pink Chimneys I became interested in writing other things, like A Dream of Paris and my Maine stories. Then life intervened and that included health issues, family tragedy, the need to go back to work full time, and the care of elderly parents. Then, around 2000, it dawned on me that if I didn't make time to write a sequel, there might never be one.
Q: Of the main female characters in the two novels, do you have a favorite? Who and why?
A: I don't have a favorite. I love Maude because she is down-to-earth, practical, and kind. I love Fanny because she is a survivor and has the ability to reinvent herself. I love Elizabeth because she has spunk and carries on even when life deals her a bad hand.
Q: In Abbott's Reach, the history and culture of Hawaii figures prominently. Why were you interested in making this part of the novel?
A: In my research, I learned that Hawaii was a regular port of call for Maine sea captains. I also was interested in the fact that some of the early missionaries to Hawaii had studied at Bangor Theological Seminary.
Q: M loves to be upon the sea. Do you?
A: I love the sea, but I don't like to be upon the sea. I sailed a few times with my son and with friends and was amazed to discover that being on the sea terrified me.
Q: Which do you enjoy most, the research or the actual writing?
A: I much prefer the research. Writing is hard work. It requires discipline, determination, and intense focus. Research is fun. I like collecting material, discovering little nuggets of fact or anecdote, and figuring out how to use it for my purposes.
Q: Where do you do most of your writing?
A: At the kitchen table on a laptop.
Q: What books do you have on your "To Read" pile?
A: The stack is tall – I'll mention the four on the top of the pile: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson; The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte; The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron; and Threads and Flames (about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire) by Esther Friesner.
