What a gem!

Joanna Bennett was born and raised on an island in Maine, settled by her grandfather and bearing his name, Bennett’s Island. She is the only daughter, in a family with six sons. In the first chapter, we are told that the island is now deserted, but we are not told why, then Ogilvie begins to tell us Joanna’s story, and the story of what happened to an island that was vibrant and alive with a thriving lobster industry.

High Tide at Noon’s finest character is Bennett’s Island. Elisabeth Ogilvie makes it come alive: the flora, the fauna, the sea, and the people, that hardy brand of sea-going families that were once the backbone of our country. She builds characters that have depth and breath.

I have traveled several times to Tangier Island off the coast of Virginia. It is a small island with a population that has roots going back many generations; fishing is its mainstay. I could recognize the same kind of hardiness and entrenchment in Ogilvie’s people. They seemed real, because Elisabeth Ogilvie was one of them. She was familiar with the men and women who populated Maine’s islands and she puts her love and understanding of them down on paper with skill, finesse and love.

When I selected this book for my Women Writers Challenge, I did not know it was the beginning of a trilogy. I usually try to steer clear of series books, but after reading this one, I put the other two on order immediately. I certainly will not leave Joanna where she is sitting at the end of this book, I have to know how her future unfolds and what becomes of Bennett’s Island. I can’t help thinking, despite how hard life can be in this kind of environment, that we are all missing a lot who live inland and cannot sleep with the beat of the surf in our ears.
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It's hard for me to be objective about this book. I loved it; I loved every bit of it. But that's possibly because it is so close to home. As someone whose family is from a Maine island very similar to the fictional Bennett's, this could be about my relatives. The copy I read actually belonged to my islander grandmother, a woman whose personality, speech, and mannerisms could have stepped from its pages. This book encapsulates how I feel about the people and geography of coastal Maine, and how I feel about islands, so perfectly that I can't help but love it.

Is it a compelling plot? Does it have compelling characters? Is it well-written? I would say yes to all of that. I think it is very much worth reading. But that may just be my islander speaking.

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