Just East Of Nowhere

Adult Fiction

     When non residents think of Maine they tend to envision all things ocean related:  lighthouses, boats and ships, beaches, quaint souvenir shops and bed and breakfasts, and of course that infamous over priced bottom feeding crustacean, lobstah.  They probably see the Maine coast as the epitome of Vacationland.

     What they don't see is those coastal towns that don't share in the prosperity of places like Portland and Cape Elizabeth.  Some, victims of loss of manufacturing jobs with decent incomes, are beset by levels of poverty, precariousness, opiate addiction, and hopelessness usually associated with Appalachia.  In his debut novel, Just Easy Of Nowhere, Scot Lehigh takes readers to the way off the tourist track area where he grew up.

     Dan, a Bates College student, is returning to a place that doesn't feel like home to him for his estranged mother's funeral.  He feels that her fundamentalist church was more of a family than he could be in her mind.  He's experienced the house he grew up as a possibly inescapable prison.  He plans to just attend the funeral, play his expected role, and return to school.  But there are people from his past who make this unlikely. 

     Dan has managed to track down his biological father, the man who served many years in prison for impregnating his then teenage mother.

     Dan, himself, had spent time in juvie for beating a peer, Griff who had said the wrong thing, savagely battering him after he'd become too injured to fight back.  Griff is still around.  He's bought a gun and learned how to use it.

     Susan, Dan's first girlfriend, is now with Griff.

     Lehigh's first novel is pure raw suspense set in a place far removed from upper crust coastal Maine narrative.  Let's hope he brings us back in the near future.

On a purrrsonal note, I hope you had a wonderful 😊 Labor Day weekend.  Mine was 😍 purrrfect--a romantic weekend at camp.  Eugene did all all the cooking 🍳 leaving me free to read.  For fun reading 📚 😊.  I left the textbooks at home.  The weather was all blue skies and sunshine 🌞.  Eugene's best friend and his wife and their older son were at their camp.  We hung with them some.  Sunday night we joined them for a bonfire with refreshments.  It was so beautiful.  (Jules)

They always leave me enough food.  And they came home safe.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to Eugene and the Brown family.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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