Description

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Nearly two decades after her debut novel, Ruth Moore writes a saltier tale of Downeast life in Second Growth (1962). Rife with violent deaths, natural disasters, and even attempted blackmail, the town of Hillville has seen better days. Even the land is exhausted and has given what it can. Residents can no longer fish, farm, or manufacture to earn a good living, so they pick up seasonal work and otherwise rely on government support. When an illegitimate child is born and subsequently lost, the local doctor does what he thinks is best, igniting a series of events that engulfs the entire town, from wild-child Beck Overholt to eighty-two-year-old Clemintina Wilkinson, over the course of six months. Moore, a master of detail, weaves an intricate plot that reveals a craggy underbelly of small-town humanity that rivals Maine's rocky coast.

About the Author

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Born and raised in the Maine fishing village of Gotts Island, Ruth Moore (1903-1989) emerged as one of the most important Maine authors of the twentieth century, best known for her authentic portrayals of Maine people and her evocative descriptions of the state. In her time, she was favorably compared to Faulkner, Steinbeck, Caldwell, and O'Connor. She graduated from Albany State Teacher's College and worked at a variety of jobs in New York, Washington, D.C., and California, including as personal secretary to Mary White Ovington, a founder of the NAACP, and at Reader's Digest. The Weir, her debut novel in 1943, was hailed by critics and established Moore as an important and popular novelist, but her second novel Spoonhandle soared to great success, spending fourteen weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. The novel was also made into the movie, Deep Waters. The success of Spoonhandle gave her the financial security to build a house in Bass Harbor and spend the rest of her life writing novels in her home state. Ultimately, she wrote fourteen novels. Moore and her partner, Eleanor Mayo, travelled extensively, but never again lived outside of Maine. Moore died in Bar Harbor in 1989, leaving a nearly unmatched literary legacy.