Book picks similar to
The Weir by Ruth Moore


fiction
maine
historical-fiction
maine-books

The Lowering Days


Gregory Brown - 2021
    . .Growing up, David Almerin Ames and his brothers, Link and Simon, believed the wild patch of Maine where they lived along the Penobscot River belonged to them. Running down the state like a spine, the river shared its name with the people of the Penobscot Nation, whose ancestral territory included the entire Penobscot watershed--the land upon which the Ames family eventually made their home.The brothers' affinity for the natural world derives from their iconoclastic parents, Arnoux, a romantic artist and Vietnam War deserter who builds boats by hand, and Falon, an activist journalist who runs The Lowering Days, a community newspaper which gives equal voice to indigenous and white issues.But the boys' childhood reverie is shattered when a bankrupt paper mill, once the Penobscot Valley's largest employer, is burned to the ground on the eve of potentially reopening. As the community grapples with the scope of the devastation, Falon receives a letter from a Penobscot teenager confessing to the crime--an act of justice for a sacred river under centuries of assault.For the residents of the Penobscot Valley, the fire reveals a stark truth. For many, the mill is a lifeline, providing working class jobs they need to survive. Within the Penobscot Nation, the mill is a bringer of death, spewing toxic chemicals and wastewater products that poison the river's fish and plants.As the divide within the community widens, the building anger and resentment explodes in tragedy, wrecking the lives of David and those around him.Evocative and atmospheric, pulsating with the rhythms of the natural world, The Lowering Days is a meditation on the flow and weight of history, the power and fragility of love, the dangerous fault lines underlying families, and the enduring land where stories are created and told.

The First Team


John Ball Jr. - 1971
    Moscow has taken the USA without a shot.Student protesters are being slaughtered in the Midwest.The Jewish pogroms have begun.You are now living in Soviet–occupied America!One nuclear submarine and a handful of determined patriots against the combined might of Russia and Soviet–occupied America… The Most Explosive and Gripping “What If” Novel of Our Time!

Hour of the Witch


Chris Bohjalian - 2021
    Mary Deerfield is twenty-four-years-old. Her skin is porcelain, her eyes delft blue, and in England she might have had many suitors. But here in the New World, amid this community of saints, Mary is the second wife of Thomas Deerfield, a man as cruel as he is powerful. When Thomas, prone to drunken rage, drives a three-tined fork into the back of Mary's hand, she resolves that she must divorce him to save her life. But in a world where every neighbor is watching for signs of the devil, a woman like Mary--a woman who harbors secret desires and finds it difficult to tolerate the brazen hypocrisy of so many men in the colony--soon finds herself the object of suspicion and rumor. When tainted objects are discovered buried in Mary's garden, when a boy she has treated with herbs and simples dies, and when their servant girl runs screaming in fright from her home, Mary must fight to not only escape her marriage, but also the gallows. A twisting, tightly plotted thriller from one of our greatest storytellers, Hour of the Witch is a timely and terrifying novel of socially sanctioned brutality and the original American witch hunt.

The Red Badge of Courage & The Veteran


Stephen Crane - 1990
    Written by Stephen Crane at the age of twenty-one, the novel imagines the Civil War's terror and loss with an unblinking vision so modern and revolutionary that, upon publication, critics hailed it as a work of literary genius. Ernest Hemingway declared, "There was no real literature of our Civil War . . . until Stephen Crane wrote The Red Badge of Courage." This Modern Library Paperback Classics edition includes the short story "The Veteran," Crane's tale of an aged Civil War soldier looking back at his past.

Crusader


Paul Bannister - 2014
     The Third Crusade is on the horizon, and Henry II is on the throne. Young Frederick Banastre has grown up hearing about his father’s adventures in the Second Crusade. And now Frederick is being sent to court to become a steward to the young prince Richard, readying him for his own chance at glory. Frederick and Richard soon become firm friends, with the royal household their personal playground. But as the King ages, and the heir to the throne, Young Henry, prepares to take over, Frederick and Richard need to prove themselves on the battlefield. They journey to France in an attempt to quell rebellious uprisings, and cement English rule. But then disaster strikes, and with both Henrys in mortal danger, the way is paved for the rise of Richard the Lionheart… ‘Crusader’ is the first in a new series of historical thrillers chronicling the life of Richard the Lionheart. "Full of action, intrigue and historical insight." Richard Foreman. Paul Bannister is a journalist and author. His is also the author of the Lord of the Narrow Sea series, which includes 'Arthur Britannicus', 'Arthur Imperator', ‘Arthur Invictus’, ‘The King’s Cavalry’ and ‘A Fragile Peace’.

The Rise of Silas Lapham


William Dean Howells - 1885
    William Dean Howells' richly humorous characterization of a self-made millionaire in Boston society provides a paradigm of American culture in the Gilded Age.After establishing a fortune in the paint business, Silas Lapham moves his family from their Vermont farm to the city of Boston, where they awkwardly attempt to break into Brahmin society.

Red Ruby Heart in a Cold Blue Sea


Morgan Callan Rogers - 2010
    When her mother disappears during a weekend trip, Florine Gilham's idyllic childhood is turned upside down. Until then she'd been blissfully insulated by the rhythms of family life in small town Maine; watching from the granite cliffs above the sea for her father's lobster boat to come into port, making bread with her grandmother, and infiltrating the summer tourist camps with her friends. But with her mother gone, the heart falls out of Florine's life and she and her father are isolated as they struggle to manage their loss. Both sustained and challenged by the advice and expectations of her family and neighbors, Florine grows up with her spirit intact. And when her father's past comes to call, she must accept that life won't ever be the same while keeping her mother vivid in her memories. With Fannie Flagg's humor and Elizabeth Stroud's sense of place, this debut is an extraordinary snapshot of a bygone America through the eyes of an inspiring girl blazing her own path to womanhood.

Rebellion


Molly Patterson - 2017
    It’s harvest time and with two small children and a farm to manage on her own, this young mother is determined to keep her land and family intact. As she grows closer to the neighboring Hughes family, she realizes the tradeoff for some freedoms is more precious than she expected. In 1890, we see Hazel’s young mother, Louisa, recently married and relocated to Illinois to what will become her family’s farm. Life in the country is dictated by seasons, so too is Louisa ruled by her “weathers” of good and bad spells. What keeps her grounded is corresponding with her sister, Addie, a Christian missionary in China. The same adventurous spirit that brought Addie to China with her new husband now compels her to leave again. However, with the Boxer Rebellion underway, and violence erupting between Chinese and their unwelcome Christian intruders, Addie’s life takes a mysterious and haunting turn strongly felt by her sister, Louisa, back home. At the end of the twentieth century, Juanlan returns to her parents’ home in Heng’an after college. With her father falling ill, a new highway being built, and her sister-in-law soon to give birth, Juanlan feels frozen in place, though everyone and everything seems to be rapidly changing. In the search for an outlet for the live wire, a little burning blue coil she feels buried inside, she starts up a love affair with a high-ranking government official. From rural Illinois to the far reaches of China, these four women are interconnected by actions, consequence, and spirit, each brilliantly displaying the fleeting intensity of youth, the obligation of family, and the dramatic consequence of charting their own destiny. A vibrant story of compassion and discovery set against a century of complicated relations between China and America, Rebellion celebrates those who fight against expectation in pursuit of their own thrilling fate and introduces a rising literary star.

Peyton Place


Grace Metalious - 1956
    At the centre of the novel are three women, each with a secret to hide: Constance MacKenzie, the original desperate housewife; her daughter Allison, whose dreams are stifled by small-town small-mindedness; and Selena Cross, her gypsy-eyed friend from the wrong side of the tracks.

Logan's Word: A Logan Family Western - Book 1


Donald L. Robertson - 2014
     Now, two years later, deep in the Comancheria, Josh Logan rides to fulfill his dying friend’s request. As he rides through the rolling, West Texas hills, blood-thirsty Comanches could wait in the next ravine or around the next hill. Yet, he is determined to fulfill his promise. His message delivered, he must make a decision that could cost him his life. Will Josh stay and help Rory’s father save his ranch from sharp-shooters, murderers, and land-grabbers, or continue to Colorado to join his brother Callum before the snow flies? Logan’s Word, Logan Family Western Series Book One, is a fast-paced, action-packed Western in the tradition of the great Western writer, Louis L’Amour.

Being Mrs. Alcott


Nancy Geary - 2005
    Alcott, an ambitious mainstream novel that beautifully captures the manners and mores of the American upper class, will appeal to the same audience who reads the works of Louis Begley and Susan Minot. - Nancy Geary's previous novels, Regrets Only, Redemption, and Misfortune were all published to rave reviews from notable authors and national publications.

The Magic Hour


Charlotte Bingham - 1992
    She will not meet the handsome stable lad, Tom O’Brien, until much later.When Alexandra returns home, her father remarries and she is forced to become a maid-of-all-work. Alexandra makes a success of her new life and meets the lovely Bob Atkins. Meanwhile, Tom O’Brien has become impassioned with the beautiful Lady Florazel Compton who introduces him to the sophistications of 1950’s London. Sadly, Alexandra’s contentment with Bob is short lived and Tom comes back into her life.But the past seems destined to wreck the happiness of the present, as the still beautiful Lady Florazel is determined to re-capture her former love and destroy the magic hour of Tom and Alexandra’s meeting.

Young Americans


Josh Stallings - 2015
    A Firebird transports a crew of glitter kids away from the city. Forget the trunk full of cash and illegal firearms. Forget the disco heist and sea of felonies left in their wake. They are five friends happily rolling down thunder road with no horizon in sight. They are YOUNG AMERICANS.

Lone Star Law


Louis L'AmourMarcus Galloway - 2005
    Here, too, are superb, action-packed entries from today's outstanding Western storytellers -- distinguished award winners as well as daring newcomers, including Peter Brandvold · Randy Lee Eickhoff · Marcus Galloway · Ed Gorman · Elmer Kelton · Rod Miller · Robert J. Randisi · James Reasoner · Dusty Richards · Troy D. Smith · L. J. Washburn Edited by renowned author and anthologist Robert J. Randisi, Lone Star Law spans the existence of this elite investigative law enforcement agency. From fending off hostile Comanche to tracking serial killers, from aiming Winchesters and Colt revolvers to firing up laptops and state-of-the-art forensics technology, from targeting rustlers and outlaw gangs to leading harrowing hostage negotiations, the men and women who don the badge and white hat of the Texas Ranger stand as steadfast deliverers of American justice -- the Lone Star way.

Peace Breaks Out


John Knowles - 1981
    Wexford is a defiant, scheming troublemaker. Their lives collide in the uneasy days of peace after World War II as senior year at the Devon School changes from a time of friendships into a stunning drama of tragic betrayal. With the unforgettable power and simplicity that made A Separate Peace into a modern classic, this masterful companion volume by John Knowles takes us once again on a warmly nostalgic journey through the poignancy of adolescence — and gives us another landmark portrayal of the dark side of the human heart.