Book reviews

Through Stages of Grief, Author Gets to Heart of Being a Teenager

Alexandra Coutts’s latest young adult novel Young Widows Club is indeed about a young widow. The main character Tamsen Baird is just 17. This is the West Tisbury author’s fourth book.

Going to the Sea, One Page at a Time

As I do every year I’ve selected a pile of maritime books which may engage your imagination.

Where's Coop? It's Mike's Time to Shine in Linda Fairstein's Latest Novel

Devil’s Bridge is the 17th Alex Cooper thriller by Linda Fairstein. The author explores, with great depth, levels of psychology that help even unfamiliar readers understand why every police officer and City Hall staffer is out to help find Alex Cooper when she goes missing one autumn night.

A Mystery Wrapped in an Enigma With No Conclusion; Art Heist Still Mystifies

Stephen Kurkjian’s new book has the characters, intrigue and pace of a mystery novel. All it lacks is the culprit. That’s because his subject matter, the burglary at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, remains unsolved.

Rosabeth Moss Kanter Issues Call to Put Nation's Infrastructure Back in the Fast Lane

Tired of obstacles to mobility in the United States, Harvard Business School professor and seasonal Edgartown resident Rosabeth Moss Kanter decided to take matters into her own hands with her new book, Move: Putting America’s Infrastructure Back in the Lead.

Island Basketball: Much More Than a Game

“If there is one thing that brings Vineyarders together, male and female, rich and not-so rich, across ethnic and social lines, it is and has been basketball. That is Martha’s Vineyard’s best-kept secret.”

David McCullough Flies Deep into Wright Brothers' Story

David McCullough, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and longtime resident of West Tisbury, has long been fascinated with mechanical flight. His newest book, to be released Tuesday, tells the story of Wright Brothers, a lesson in self-reliance, perseverance, family values and hard work.

Colonial History by Way of Scotland

When I read recently in the New York Times about the possibility of Scotland exiting the United Kingdom, I was confused. I had no idea Great Britain had nationality problems.

Swept Away by Tradition and Crisis

Windswept, a new novel by Kate Hancock, opens with the story of Josiah Cook, a farmer on Chappaquiddick who in the late 18th century witnesses pirates burying treasure on the beach.

Looking Back With Gratitude on Island Life

Shirley Mayhew’s affectionate recollections of West Tisbury chronicle the years from 1947, when she arrived as a bride to a community of 239 residents, to 2013, when the book was written.

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