Another book I have long heard of but never read! It did not feel like I was reading fiction, but that I was reading a memoir of a woman’s sojourn on a small Maine island filled with colorful characters from time past.

The narrator rents a room for the summer on Dunnet Landing, Maine, planning on writing. Her host supports herself with herbal remedies, often involving the writer in collecting her herbs and selling the remedies. She visits her elderly mother who lives on an island, and introduces the writer to town society.

The townswomen complain that with the collapse of the whaling industry, young people no longer leave home to see the world. These women had gone to the South Seas with their husbands. “Everybody’s just like everybody else now,” with so few seafaring families left.

Captain Littlepage tells tales of sailing to Hudson’s Bay and seeing Esquimaux, complaining that “…a community narrows and grows dreadful ignorant when it is shut up in its own affairs, and gets no knowledge of the outside world except from a cheap, unprincipled newspaper,” the narrator is told. The Captain can quote Milton and Shakespeare, having spent his time on ship reading.

I often wondered a great deal about the inner life and thought of these self-contained old fishermen; their minds seemed to be fixed upon nature and the elements rather than any contrivances of man, like politics or theology. from Land of the Pointed Firs by Sarah Orne Jewett

We understand that these characters are educated and worldly in their own ways. Knowledge of herbs and herbal remedies. Memorizing great literature. An aged, widowed fisherman shows off the braided rugs his wife had made, while the old man knits in winter.

The descriptions of the land and sea are beautiful. As summer ends, she writes, “There was no autumnal mist on the coast, nor any August fog; instead of these, the sea, the sky, all the long shore line and the inland hills, with every bush of bay and every fir-top, gained a deeper color and a sharper clearness.”

The conversation at the end of the book is very insightful and interesting. Jewett’s book is compared to Jane Austen in showing women’s relationships and community through visits.

In addition, there is included collected short stories.

It was lovely to travel back to the late 19th c and meet these folk.

Thanks to the publisher for a free book through NetGalley.

I read this a long time ago and remember not being terribly impressed by it. On re-reading it in this edition I found myself enjoying it much more. The interview at the back of the book about Orne Jewett and the circumstances of her writing it were fascinating and shed a new light on the work. I also very much appreciated the addition of some of her short stories at the end, which make this slight volume a bit more meaty. There are elements, particularly in the short stories that reminded me a little of the work of Edith Wharton.

I was aware of this author but hadn't read any of her work, so when I read the description of this book, I thought it might be a good place to start. I was right! The book contains not only Country of Pointed Firs, but also some short stories and a discussion section at the end in which two women discuss their thoughts on the book with one another.

Pointed Firs tells the story of an unnamed narrator's summer spent in a coastal village in Maine. She's a writer who has come to the village from away and rented a room from a widow named Mrs. Todd, who is an herbalist as well as a landlady. The visitor quickly becomes a part of the household and the community, helping Mrs Todd with her business and household duties and accompanying her to various community gatherings and on a visit to the island where Mrs Todd's mother lives. The writer also makes some visits on her own and when she rents a schoolhouse as a writing studio, she gets a visitor there. The book consists of connected chapters describing all of these events. Together, they create an account of the writer's summer in the village. For people who are interested in suspenseful action, this book isn't that. It is slow paced, while also being packed with activities of various kinds, as would have been true for people of that time and place. It's the sort of book that made me feel like I was there and happy to be among these interesting people, reading their interesting stories.

The short stories were also enjoyable. What I think sets this book apart is the section at the end where two women have a 'conversation' about the book and their experiences reading it. I quite enjoyed that and it gave me more to think about. I would think that it would be interesting even to those who have read the book before. While this was my first read of this author, it definitely will not be the last and I look forward to reading more of her work.

With fond memories of a prior summer visit to the coastal fishing town of Dunnet Landing, Maine, our narrator, a writer by profession, chooses to visit this idyllic location to finish the book she is writing. Leaving the hustle and bustle of Boston behind, the peace and quiet of the seaside might provide just the inspiration she needs.

Maine once had a thriving maritime and shipbuilding industry. Maritime travel and trading had been impacted by the Civil War; cargoes were raided and larger ports began to control the fishing industry. Through the remembrances of the Dunnet residents, a snapshot of small town life in an insular fishing community is shared with the narrator during her three month summer visit. Perhaps it takes a village to act as a living breathing entity reflecting upon their life experiences.

As summer commences, Almira Todd welcomes the narrator as her summer lodger. Mrs. Todd, a widow and an herbalist, dispenses remedies to the populace. The narrator is introduced to members of the community. A budding friendship develops between Mrs. Todd and her renter..

Once a vibrant active community, Dunnet is in decline. Seafarers and sailors had died at sea, wars claimed the lives of others, first loves or the love of one’s life had disappeared, some chose to live life in isolation.. The nature of gossip had changed as the populace aged. I can’t help but think that the citizenry, now more than ever, accepted the uniqueness of its individuals in a non-judgmental manner. They nurtured those seeking isolation, respected and elevated their elders, and instituted a yearly rendezvous where the celebration included people living in Dunnet’s outlier islands. They would have the opportunity to break bread with their geographically distant family and friends, after all, the fishing village residents had a connection going back five generations.

“The Country of Pointed Firs” a novella, begs to be given more widespread recognition. The reader as well as the narrator are welcomed into the fold. The beautiful seafaring imagery and magnificent landscape crafted by author Sarah Orne Jewel’s exquisite prose encourages repeat visits to this idyllic community of wonderful characters. Included in this edition is a collection of four of Jewel’s short stories.

Highly recommended.

Thank you Unnamed Press| Smith & Taylor Classics and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.