A sweet and melancholic meander through a summer's worth of small events and spry characters. For me, it bordered on too-sweet, but it's COVID so cozy and quaint had a chance to shine.

It was interesting to consider how Jewett chose the personalities she would feature and how differently we might interpret them and their stories today--a heartbroken young woman, her engagement broken, retreats to a small island to live in isolation for the rest of her days. Because this is Sarah Orne Jewett circa 1896, the local fisherman respect her isolation and respond by approaching her island from time to time as they go about their lobstering and tossing extra provisions up onto the grass where she will be sure to find them. No predation, just some fresh pears for the poor dear! What would Jewett think of the Law and Order SVU-soaked 21st century brain reading about Miss Joanna Todd alone on her island with boats full of fisherman sailing past twice a day and thinking "uh-oh, this can't end well!"?

Likewise the characters of William and poor benighted Mari' Harris--how differently their character sketches would be skewed today. The book was saved from seeming totally treacle to me by the spareness and relative isolation of the lives portrayed, and the very present characters of the rugged coast and sea.