With this long, beautifully realized novel, Ruth More takes her place as a major writer, one of the finest fiction talents to write of Maine for many decades. She knows Maine and its people, especially their humor, for this novel is rich with the indigenous humor of the Maine coast. Spoondhandle is a heartening book, alive and evocative, the product of an artist sure of her material, certain and marvelously clear, able to give a main character his head and spin him out to full length.
Miss Moore writes of a Maine community, especially of the Stilwells. She depicts Pete Stilwell and his sister Agnes, who wanted money and thought they could get it by siding with the summer people against their neighbors, and their brothers, Willie and Hod, who lived on Little Spoon Island and fished for a living.
With this long, beautifully realized novel, Ruth More takes her place as a major writer, one of the finest fiction talents to write of Maine for many decades. She knows Maine and its people, especially their humor, for this novel is rich with the indigenous humor of the Maine coast. Spoondhandle is a heartening book, alive and evocative, the product of an artist sure of her material, certain and marvelously clear, able to give a main character his head and spin him out to full length.
Miss Moore writes of a Maine community, especially of the Stilwells. She depicts Pete Stilwell and his sister Agnes, who wanted money and thought they could get it by siding with the summer people against their neighbors, and their brothers, Willie and Hod, who lived on Little Spoon Island and fished for a living.