Book Description
If any one place could be considered the archetype of a traditional, remote, cussedly independent, Maine lobster-fishing village -- and its gone-but-not-forgotten way of life -- Criehaven is it. When three-year-old Dot Simpson came to Criehaven in 1908, it was truly a world unto itself. To us, it might seem an unbearably limited and unrelentingly hard way of life, yet it clearly offered something immensely satisfying, too. Dot wrote that anyone who moved off-island would invariably return. Dot herself was intensely happy there. She was an introspective child, extremely observant, and early on she fell in love with the written word. She also was a bit rebellious, frequently stubborn, and imaginative -- traits that baffled her parents and also led her into exciting and amusing scrapes. Fortunately for us, Dot Simpson vividly remembered her early island life and wrote about it with moving simplicity. Her memoir is brightened with dry humor, and it tells of a time long lost but infused with values we still cherish, such as love of home and family. Even though it is a story tinged with considerable sadness, we can’t help but wish we could have spent at least a few of our own growing-up years alongside Dot, as an island child.


About the Author
Dot Simpson (Aleda Dorothy Knowlton Simpson, 1905-1998), the author of seven books about Maine islands and their people, was also a behind-the-scenes collaborator for popular Maine novelist Elisabeth Ogilvie. Dot’s niece and namesake, Dorothy Simpson, came into possession of several of her aunt’s unpublished manuscripts, including this touching and vivid memoir, to which she added a concluding chapter and wonderful old photos. Dorothy divides her time between Hollis and Rockland, Maine.