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We have something a little different this Sunday. Recently, we received an email from Diana about her recent love of fishing village settings. She remembers reading a particular series set in Nova Scotia, but can’t figure out the title or author, and she’d love to read some similar books. Maybe we can help her out, either by reuniting her with the series she loved or giving her some great recs:
I’m completely stuck. I’m a very new writer and actually just got my first book deal. Although it will be a book of personal “essays with an edge,” my real passion is historical fiction.
Years ago, I read a series of books by a writer who wrote about the Nova Scotia fishing industry. Romance, although I don’t think they were romance marketed.
I’ve since become obsessed with writing about a tiny town on the coast of Oregon and their very historical fishing industry. My first short story from there is being published next month. But, I cannot find a lot of historical fishing town romances around. Not in Australia or England and yet…well, I’m looking. So I thought I’d ask if anything comes to mind.
I listened to the podcast on Alyssa Cole’s historical fiction and it really inspired me even more to find that niche market that might follow suit on my fisherman poet obsession. Who knows. It’s fun. But, if any of the Smart Bitches can think of anything, that would be great.
It’s a pretty niche request, but I’m sure there’s something out there!
Hi Diana,
I’m from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and with respect to your query about a series set in NS, I’m wondering if it is “The Dream Series” by Carol Marlene Smith who is a native Nova Scotian. There are 5 books in the series: “Chasing the Dream”, “Facing Reality”, “Missing Link”, “After Glow” & “Raging Nightmare”, and the heroine in the book is Marlee Sweet. To be honest, I have never read these books, but I have heard of her. I checked on Amazon.ca (Canada) and they are there in Kindle ebook format. Not sure if this is what you’re looking for, but thought I would pass it along. Good luck with your quest.
If you just need fishermen, Kristan Higgins’ first book features and lobsterman in Maine.
Its not historical but Nora Roberts has a series of four books set in Chesapeake bay. Rising Tides is my favourite and Ethan the hero is a crabber.
Drawing a blank on the specifics mentioned.
But…
Not the right coast, but Elizabeth Lowell’s “A Woman Without Lies” and “Love Song for a Raven” are set in British Columbia/Inside Passage, with a female fishing guide heroine and fishing boat captain hero as characters, respectively. Both are terribly Old Skool and overwrought, and I think they both have “extended” versions Lowell did later (find the shorter series ones if you can – the added stuff isn’t awesome).
Additionally, a giant chunk of Alistair MacLeod’s stuff is set in Nova Scotia, and Anne Emery (sp?) has a mystery series set in Halifax.
These are both set in Newfoundland (which I realize is not the same as Nova Scotia). They aren’t romance novels but both have strong romance elements and both are completely awesome.
The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx
Galore, by Michael Crummey
Virginia Kantra’s trilogy Carolina Home/Carolina Girl/Carolina Man has a family fishing business, and it’s pretty good, especially the interactions between family members. I absolutely hated the way the second book treated its heroine though; just skip her scenes and read ones about the rest of the family & it’ll be fine.
The Seashell Bay Trilogy by V.K. Sykes is set on an island where lobster fishing is a way of life and I’m pretty sure there are some fisherman Heroes and Heroines. The first book is MEET ME AT THE BEACH.
Also, I just finished a re-read of Christina Lauren’s DIRTY ROWDY THING which has a fisherman hero who’s trying to save his family’s fishing business. It’s set mostly in San Diego but there are some key scenes on Victoria Island, British Columbia.
And of course I second the rec for Nora Robert’s Chesapeake series. Still one of my favorites to comfort read.
Also second the rec for Virginia Kantra’s Carolina Home. Super sexy fisherman/captain hero. Plus, fabulous writing.
I’d love to hear what the answer is! I have a different Virginia Kantra rec — her Children of the Sea series, paranormal set off the coast of Maine. I’m a New Englander and the sense of place is just perfect. They’re also beautifully written — got me reading romance. (I was really disappointed in the one Shannon Stacey firefighter book — no sense of place, no sense of work, none of the weariness of a physical job in an actual place, which Kantra’s really good at.)
There were also two books about life in a Newfoundland outport by Bernice Morgan, Random Passage and Waiting for Time. They weren’t really romances but I thought it described the lives of fishermen early 19th century very well. Plus it was made into a t.v. mini series back in the late nineties.
FYI – Random Passage (and Shipping News, but to a lesser extent) have quite a bit of the grim life of historical fishing when it was hard, hard, hard and people died young, froze, waited, starved … my husband just read both after a family trip to Newfoundland. And thought they were beautiful but that I’d find them pretty heavy. He also read Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston – he was on a real Newfoundland kick.
Fishing village music: try Great Big Sea and the various solo projects of the members of the group – and if you use Pandora or a similar service, a “Great Big Sea” channel will give you a lot of Newfoundland music. It’s absolutely fabulous. And has all the essence of the place, I think.
If you are interested in history, fishing and Nova Scotia I can recommend Rockbound by Frank Parker Day. It won the Canada Reads contest several years ago. I read it for my book club and it is one of those amazing books you would never choose for yourself but you are so glad you read.
Not a novel, but Sebastian Junger’s “The Perfect Storm” was excellent. There’s a line about how there is a track worn into the floorboards by a window from the generations of women looking out to sea for their men to return. Very poignant.
I loved Sena Jeter Naslund’s “Ahab’s Wife” (more about whaling, lighthousekeeping).
@Manda Collins: Victoria Island is in Nunavut, in the Arctic Circle – there is no Victoria Island in BC. Did you mean Vancouver Island, which has the city of Victoria on it, maybe?
@Tania You are correct! It’s Vancouver Island. Something felt wrong but I wasn’t sure what. The book has it right though. I picked the wrong V-word 🙁
I’d second Rockbound. Like another commentor, not one I’d have poked for myself but quite good and I’m glad I read it. I’d also recommend Donna Morrissey. It’s very regional Maritime life and romance. I love her stuff and was delighted to meet her a few years ago. Enjoy!
For Northwest maritime/fishing history, there are a couple of mysteries from P. J. Alderman set on the Olympic peninsula that might bear examination. (I would welcome more in that setting, but she seems to have switched to a more modern series set along the Columbia River which I have yet to get my hands on.)
I don’t think this is the book you’re looking for, but perhaps you would be interested in The Boundless Deep? It’s a novel about the whaling industry in Nantucket and it is a romance as well. I know whaling is different than fishing, but it gives a good sense of a town that’s dependent on the sea and it’s a really good read in my opinion.
Lavryle Spencer has a beautiful book called Twice Loved set in Nantucket. Her husband is a fisherman and thought lost at sea. Beautiful love story. Makes me cry every time.
Another recommendation for early Kristan Higgins – a couple of her early books are set in a small fishing town in Maine. catch of the Day is the one involving a fisherman, but there’s also The Next Best Thing and Somebody to Love which take place in the same setting.
This is the greatest list! Thank you Bitchery. I could never have found some of these stories and they’re exactly what I’m looking for. I had forgotten about The Shipping News and never heard of P.J. Alderman writing on the Columbia. Thank you so much!
Found it….thank you Jazz! It was Sylvanus Now by Donna Morrissey. Never would have found that book again without your suggestion. Also, I just spent $50 with all these recommendations. Thanks again Bitchery!