Book picks similar to
Mary and William Dyer: Quaker Light and Puritan Ambition in Early New England by Johan Winsser
family-history
local-history
new-england
puritan
The Penny Poet of Portsmouth: A Memoir of Place, Solitude, and Friendship
Katherine Towler - 2016
He was a union of unlikely opposites – one of the strangest and loveliest of people, one of the poorest and richest, one of the most sardonic and serious. He could be brilliant and intentionally obtuse, or quietly contained and defiant, all in the same moment. The Penny Poet of Portsmouth is a memoir of the author’s friendship with Robert Dunn, a brilliant poet who spent most of his life off the grid in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire, renting a room in a house without owning a phone, car, computer, or television. The book is as well an elegy for a time and place – the New England seaport city of the early 1990s that has been lost to development and gentrification, capturing the life Robert was able to make in a place rougher around the edges than it is today. It is a meditation on what writing asks of those who practice it and on the nature of solitude in a culture filled with noise and clutter. And it is, finally, the story of a rare individual who charted an entirely unorthodox life that challenged the status quo in every way.
At the Journey's End
Annette Lyon - 2006
As an American Indian living in the Utah Territory—and not a member of the Mormon Church—Abe faces everything from simple ignorance to outright bigotry. To make matters worse, the only woman he has ever loved has chosen to marry another man. It is past time for Abe to start his life over.At the urging of his devout mother, Abe settles in Snowflake, Arizona, where he promptly meets Maddie Stratton. Maddie is at first wary of Abe, yet she detects a sensitivity and goodness beneath his embittered exterior and they soon become friends. As Maddie draws ever closer to Abe, he begins to push her away, knowing that her faith-and his lack of faith-will prove to be too large a barrier to result in happiness.From tender matters of the heart and the anguish of a life-threatening accident to the gentle whisperings of the Spirit, author Annette Lyon completes the powerful story of Abraham Franklin, which began in the best-selling novel House on the Hill. At once romantic and adventurous, At the Journey's End is a captivating story of love and loss, sacrifice and, eventually, understanding.
The Voyage of the Cormorant
Christian Beamish - 2012
How the vision met reality – and how the two came to shape each other – places Voyage of the Cormorant in the great American tradition of tales of life at sea, and what it has to teach us.
Grace Will Lead Me Home
Katherine Valentine - 2004
Dorsetville is all aflutter. The housekeeper at St. Cecilia’s rectory, Mrs. Norris, has quit in a huff, and the rectory is beginning to look like a college dorm. Father Dennis could lend a hand, but since his cooking show, The Fat Friar, has gained popularity, he’s become, well, moody. Nellie Anderson and Harry Clifford are about to tie the knot—that is if someone can find the missing wedding invitations. Bungling Deputy Hill has been left in charge since the sheriff is sick, but will the town survive in the meantime? Meanwhile, Father James is helping an ex-convict learn to resume his life. Valerie Kilbourne, a single mother, needs money for a very expensive operation for her twin daughters. And Lori Peterson, who has had her share of tragedies, will be asked to face another. Katherine Valentine’s keen insights into human nature and extraordinary sense of humor make for characters you’ll want to know for years.
A Light in the Darkness
Ruth Logan Herne - 2017
She loads up her SUV, says goodbye to her lifelong home in Kansas, and heads as far east as one can possibly go without swimming!On the quaint and historic island of Martha's Vineyard just off the coast of Massachusetts, Priscilla comes face-to-face with adventure--one that includes rediscovered family, new friends, old homes, and head-scratching mysteries that crop up with surprising regularity.