In America's earliest years, the waters surrounding the young country were vulnerable to foreign invasion, principally by the British Navy.

Dad’s a drunk named Bull, brother Jimmy is an ex con dealing heroin, and Cooper Harrison is stepping in a pile of donkey manure on a regular basis as part of his job as the animal control officer for a small New England town called Harmony Farms.

After a winter of endless storms and frigid temperatures, author and family therapist Dr. Anne Fishel is looking at the bright side. “It’s good for family dinners!” she said from her home in Boston last weekend.

Over the next year, the Sustainable Book Club will read and discuss books about diverse environmental topics. The entire Island is invited to participate. The book club is sponsored by Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary and all six Island libraries, and will meet every over month for the next year at locations around the Island.

Marshall Highet's love of writing and reading came early. Both of her grandmothers were writers. Her paternal grandmother was Helen MacInnes, the popular Scottish writer of espionage books, who died when Ms. Highet was only eight.