Wait, Spring : a memoir

by Cynthia Riggs

271 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2024

About the author

Cynthia Riggs, a tall gray-haired and imposing figure, is a 13th generation Islander, the mother of five and daughter of author and poet Dionis Coffin Riggs and school principal and printmaker Sidney N. Riggs.

With a degree in geology, her own remarkable resumé -- writing for the National Geographic Society and Smithsonian (she spent two months in Antarctica), working in public relations for the American Petroleum Institute, operating boat charters (she lived on a 44-foot houseboat for 12 years), running the Chesapeake Bay Ferry Boat Company, and being a rigger at Martha's Vineyard Shipyard. After enrolling six years ago in the Master of Fine Arts creative writing program at Vermont College, Riggs found yet another calling. She has become a successful mystery writer.

All her mysteries take place on the Vineyard, and all draw from local scenes and fictionalized composites of Island characters. She knows them all well, having been a two-time candidate for West Tisbury selectman ("No, I don't think I'll do that again"), a commissioner on the Martha's Vineyard Commission, a member of what is now the Martha's Vineyard Arts Council, and an active Island voice in both politics and human rights causes.

Reviews

[Ellen · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you’ve ever experienced or witnessed domestic violence this is a very difficult book to read.
After a relatively pleasant childhood and before her happy few years with her second husband Howard Attebury, Cynthia was married to a man who was a noted geologist and father of their five children. He was supportive of her career at a time before many women were working full time (not to mention leaving for two months to go to Antarctica on a scientific expedition). But he was also increasingly abusive both psychologically and physically, and tried to kill her on more than one occasion.
The fact that she put up with this is sad enough but she also details some of her children’s recollections of their father’s bad bahavior. And while I have sympathy with her trying to understand her husband’s own familial psychological trauma, that is never a reasonable reason to allow one’s self or one’s children to be subjected to abuse. I found all this very unpleasant to read.
Having read all of Riggs’ novels and cheered for her improbable and very romantic second marriage when she was over 80 and Howard over ninety years of age, I did not expect to read in this book so many gory details. Be forewarned!
I much prefer the lovely book about that second marriage, as well as her Moth radio stories on NPR.