Island Justice
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- Synopsis
- All her life, Maggie Hammond has been running-from her family, from the men who want to tie her down, from the fear of having to depend on anybody but herself. The only place she ever felt safe was with her godmother, Nan. Then word comes that Nan has died and has willed Maggie her seaside Victorian house. When Maggie lands on the island one October day, she is intending to stay a few weeks-just long enough to clean out the place and sell it. But soon after she arrives, she makes a gruesome discovery on the beach that catapults her into the middle of the year-round island community and its strange cast of characters. There is Anna Craven, who trains and kennels the hunting dogs for the summer people; her bullying husband, Al Craven, the sheriff and self- proclaimed arbiter of law and order; Dennis Lacey, the newly arrived winter doctor, who is an Irishman and a loner; and Sam Matera, the naturalist who wages a fierce daily battle to preserve the island's fragile habitat. Maggie has always heard how much the islanders distrust the summer people and all mainlanders, but she is shocked to witness firsthand how deeply they distrust one another. "Island justice" is a unique code of ethics that, at its best, preserves the values of community and, at its worst, condones a vigilante form of retribution. In times of sickness, the island people rush to their neighbors with casseroles and offers to baby-sit. But there are other troubles they take great care to ignore. Slashed tires, a black eye in church on Sunday morning, a brick through a window late at night-these signal times when the islanders know enough to hold their tongues and look the other way. Just as Maggie must resist fleeing from the love of a man who could show her the true meaning of home, so the islanders are forced to examine the erosive undertow of secrecy, which threatens to destroy the island community they call home. A beautifully observed novel in the tradition of Anne Tyler and Alice Hoffman, Island Justice sets an independent woman's struggle to trust the pull of her heart against the backdrop of a community that must come to terms with its own conscience and the true meaning of justice.
- Copyright:
- 1998
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Excellent
- Book Size:
- 354 Pages
- ISBN-13:
- 9780688159207
- Publisher:
- N/A
- Date of Addition:
- 08/22/08
- Copyrighted By:
- Elizabeth Winthrop
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- Literature and Fiction, Mystery and Thrillers
- Submitted By:
- earl schwab
- Proofread By:
- Debbie Siegel
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.