Topsham: From the River to the Highlands

By Robert C. Williams

Just Write Books, Topsham, Maine, 2015

A drowning, a feud between fishing families, a threatened way of life take on cosmic proportion as even the tide threatens “to flood the whole operation.”

Herring Nights is a gripping tale, full of hard-nosed, hard-working fishermen, reveling in a life that kept them at sea, and (sometimes) paid the bills.

For decades, Schmitt says, Maine’s lawmakers and agency officials were heavily swayed by the paper mill industry…

This is a salty story, not a spicy one. There are no tales of pirates (although in recent history, they gather once a year on Green’s Island), rum-runners, or Ahab-esque sea captains. It is all about the hard work in maritime jobs, which involves physical labor and finessing the elements—specifically, weather and water.

Phil Crossman has a new book out called Observations: A Maine Island, a Century of Newsletters and the Stories Found Between the Lines.

He is awed by the humbling power of nature, whether a rip-roaring gale tearing shingles off roofs or the miracle that earth doesn’t spin out into the abyss…

This book is mainly the 15-year history of the Ubuntu Education Fund, from the most minimal beginnings—supplying chalk to classrooms—to building computer centers and libraries in township schools and creating training programs for health workers.

Chef Altiero suggests cranking your oven up to a high temperature, sometimes 500 degrees F (and “get yourself some good potholders.”)