Speak to the Winds by Ruth Moore [First Edition]

by Ruth Moore

Chin Island had been a wild dthree miles of rock and forest when it was first settled. Now 75 years later, the families who lived there were a proud American jumble of Scots, Italians, Portuguese and Greeks, Chiefly fishermen and farmers. It was Christmas time when the feud began. Elbridge gilman, who had unwittingly helped to start it, was a calm, kindly man with a deep love for the island and a deeper love for his wife and children. He did what he could to stop the feud from spreading. So at first did Liseo MacGimsey, his quick tempered partner in the fish warf. lBut there were others like Stell, the sharp tongued ost mistress who fanned the flame until it threatened to engulf the entire island.+++++++++++

Genres: Fiction

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Ruth Moore (1903–1989) was an important Maine author of the twentieth century. She is best known for her honest portrayals of Maine people and evocative descriptions of the state. Now primarily thought of as a regional writer, Moore was a significant literary figure on the national stage during her career. Her second novel Spoonhandle spent fourteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list in the company of George Orwell, W. Somerset Maugham and Robert Penn Warren. In her time, Moore was hailed as "New England's only answer to Faulkner".

In 1940 Ruth met Eleanor Mayo, an aspiring writer also from Maine, and the two soon became a couple. They returned to New York where Ruth got a job with The Readers Digest while writing her first novel, The Weir, which was published in 1943.

Reviews

[Susan Emmet · Rating 5 out of 5]

After my Edward Abbey foray,I decided to return to Ruth Moore. Speak to the Winds is a fine book - a wonderful one. Life on Chin Island, off Rockland,over three generations, begins with the "old guys" who quarried and farmed and fished and raised families, and continues with their heirs who have come to rely too much on summer folks to survive. Moore's sense of place and character are remarkable. Amazing how a small island can be home to people from such diverse backgrounds. The plot thickens as families and neighbors are split by a variety of small feuds that burgeon into chaos, eventually splitting the island's people. I quote Elbridge Gilman (whose words apply to women, too): "A train of circumstances got set up and aimed, deadly as a rifle. One event followed another to a logical end, which seemed to be, to some men, their own personal destruction. So far, if it hadn't happened to you, you were lucky. You weren't such a fool as not to know. Nobody was immortal; day after tomorrow, tomorrow, now, you might be undercut, wiped out, from a direction you least expected and hadn't prepared for..." Near the end, before she dies accidentally, a lady from "away," Roxinda Greenwood, who lived with her ancient mother atop a granite hill oceanside, is brought to the fore by the narrator, who says: " Their love of this countryside went back and back; it was hereditary, almost, like something in the genes, understandable, since their people had wrestled a hard living for generations out of this rock. But if you knew so much, if you knew how to cope, to handle, to deal with, why should this not make you more confident, why should you not the better enjoy?"
Ah - to better enjoy!

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a great deal of time to read this book; not because of the writing but because I knew it would be great and my concentration was lacking from being ill. I'm glad I waited so I could immerse myself fully into the book.

I loved this book; the hard scrabble life, the pettiness of people and the greatness of others. Miss Greenwood was an amazing inspiration for goodness and love of people and nature. This book will hold a special place in my heart always.

Thank you to Island Port Press and LibraryThing for a copy for my review.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another classic...Ruth Moore captures Maine identity and history through her fiction like no other.

[Sol D.C · Rating 3 out of 5]

not my favorite of hers. it was a bit slower reading and it just…. ends.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful, well-written slice of life on a small island off the Maine Coast. Its slow pace gave an outstanding insight into the villagers' day-to-day lives. These people consist of several families who chose to stay on the island after its glory days came and went, plus a transplanted eccentric spinster lady and her mother--still considered after many years "summer people." At a Christmas program cum potluck supper, animosities begin to fester. They are fanned into the flames of outright hostility and polarization between heretofore friends and family members. Eldridge Gilman, who stays above the row tries to bring the factions together peacefully without success. Will a tragedy heal the rift? The author also wrote marvelous descriptions of both the weather and of nature through the seasons. I thank LibraryThing for this ARC.

[Ann McLellan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent study of human nature. Interesting read. Important insights into human behavior.
To paraphrase one observation in the book: Everyone knew that the summer lady was a good cook, better than the best on the island, but as soon as they got back to their homes from her parties they continued to say those summer people just cannot cook. I guess it is because the more you say something, repeat it over and over, the more it has to be true and you just won't give up on it.
Very timely for our divided times!

[Dan Beck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another entertaining Ruth Moore novel about coastal Maine life, this focused on an island populated as the result of two men eager to quarry granite when it was the literal foundation for building East coast cities.

Similar to her other books, Moore creates multiple interesting characters, masterful description of the Maine coast and activities of livelihoods made along it, as well as the influx of summer people who impacted it.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice read about life on an island off the coast of Maine. Yes, it's hard, yes, it's past it's prime, and yes, life is difficult for all. And that is exactly what the book is about. No intrigue. No Just daily life on an island and that is what makes this book special.
Thank you to Librarything.com and Islandport Press for a copy of this book.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life in the turnings of a year.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ruth Moore’s “Speak to the Winds” is a mid-20th Century novel that eloquently describes the life on
Chin Island, Maine. The well written descriptions leave the reader with a complete image of the island and residents of the island come to life on the page.

However, this type of book is not for everyone. I found the story very slow moving and this to be a book I was in no hurry to rush back and continue reading.

If you enjoy this style of writing then you will probably love it. Sadly, it simply was not a good match for my personal reading taste.

Thank you to LibraryThing and Islandport Press for my copy of the book. No promise of a
positive review was requested and any opinion shared here is strictly my own.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite Ruth Moore. eally the story of the life & death of a small island community with lots of lovely individual portraits of thinly disguised peopel from Moore's childhood, this is a must read for anyone who wonders what life would have been like on the Maine coast before cell phones and fisheries collapse

[Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you to LibraryThing for this book.

Don't know why I wanted to read this. It had small print and too much description and not enough conversation for me. It was a dnf.

Plus the print was so small and the book was sort of big. I can't imagine reading it for a long period of time anyway.

[Mary Ann]

This will be good, fitting in with my love of older(1956) historical fiction, if it turns out to be a good story.