Swan’s Island Chronicles by Kate Webber has arrived and is now available for purchase.  The subtitle is Borrowed, Exaggerated and Half-forgotten Tales of Island Life.  Kate served as Island Institute Fellow with the Swan’s Island Historical Society for two years.  During her second year with us she wrote essays about her life on the island based on tales and photographs she encountered during her work. These essays were written for the Working Waterfront Newspaper.  Toward the end of her fellowship The History Press contacted Kate to see if she would be interested in publishing a book based on her essays. And so the project began.

I haven’t read the book yet but have browsed its pages, taking in each photograph while memories took me places I hadn’t gone in years.  I can’t wait to put it next to my bed for night-time reading.  The description on the back of the book states:

The small Downeast Maine community of Swan’s Island has seen summer people come and go, but it has held on to its stories.  Author Kate Webber illustrates island life with humor, affection and the voices of islanders-from the first settlement and 1950s hijinks to courtship and commerce.  Explore the first and last one-room schools, island romance in sock-hop days and coastal celebrations. No one kicks up their heels on the third of July like Swan’s Islanders. From spooky haunts to local legend, the island’s history is all its own. Join Webber on this historic romp set against the backdrop of modern island living, and get acquainted with the island that comes alive after the last ferry has pulled away.

In closing, I’ll let you in on another description of the stories included in Swan’s Island Chronicles found on the back of the book:  Quirks, Charms & Colorful Quips Abound Six Miles East of Ordinary.  Now that sounds like home.