What do you think?
Rate this book
Among the Isles of Shoals
“Among the Isles of Shoals . . . a paean to the trials and joys of island living, has a timeless quality that makes delightful reading today.” —Smithsonian
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1873
About the author
Celia Thaxter
82 books13 followersCelia Laighton Thaxter was an American writer of poetry and stories. Thaxter grew up in the Isles of Shoals, first on White Island, where her father, Thomas Laighton, was a lighthouse keeper, and then on Smuttynose and Appledore Islands.
Her poems first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and she became one of America's favorite authors in the late 19th century. Among her best-known poems are The Burgomaster Gull, Landlocked, Milking, The Great White Owl, The Kingfisher, and especially The Sandpiper.
Her poems first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and she became one of America's favorite authors in the late 19th century. Among her best-known poems are The Burgomaster Gull, Landlocked, Milking, The Great White Owl, The Kingfisher, and especially The Sandpiper.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 16, 2021
Thaxter's 1873 look at general history and life upon the islands off Maine's coast where she later made her famous garden: An Island Garden, had it turn into an artist colony and most famously be painted over and over by Childe Hassam: Childe Hassam: An Island Garden Revisited and made observations concerning the birds to Bradford Torrey in By This Wing: Letters by Celia Thaxter to Bradford Torrey about Birds at the Isles of Shoals, 1888 to 1984
I have developed a bit of an obsession: alas, I am afraid of boats and water.
I have developed a bit of an obsession: alas, I am afraid of boats and water.
Read
March 26, 2024This book contains some very beautiful bursts of prose and I am very partial to the images that Thaxter extols; they are similar to that sort of craggy, barren, harsh ocean beauty, or the beauty of a land that persevera without trees, that I grew up revering.
If you’re willing to aimlessly consume this book, it’s not such a hard read. It’s somewhat mesmerizing. But it’s certainly not entertaining, and reading it quickly—as I did, for class—is a chore. I imagine that this work better rewards wading through it.
If you’re willing to aimlessly consume this book, it’s not such a hard read. It’s somewhat mesmerizing. But it’s certainly not entertaining, and reading it quickly—as I did, for class—is a chore. I imagine that this work better rewards wading through it.
June 18, 2018
This text is frequently referred to as regionalism, but it's really closer to natural history or even travel writing (think Margaret Fuller's Summer on the Lakes): there are no characters are plot. Thaxter's lovingly-detailed chronicle of the seasons, biology, geology, and memories of the Shoals has much more in common with Mary Hunter Austin than Mary Murfree or Sarah Orne Jewett.
December 23, 2023
stream of consciousness, so hard to follow at times. bonus stars for distant familial connection !
August 23, 2011
Originally written as a series of newspaper articles the text appears as one long narrative for some reason which is a bit disconcerting at first but once you get used to it you find endless treasures both elegant and hilarious. Thaxter grew up on Star Island and is known both as an artist and for her fabulous flower gardens. She lived most of her life on the Isles of Shoals, those jewel like islands that glitter on the horizon nine miles off the coast of New Hampshire. Some years back I took a ferry out to Star Island and then across to Appledore Island but have never been to the rest. There are nine of them altogether. Nine made into eight by a connecting breakwater or seven when the tide is low and land connects two more.
The islands are home to the Star Island Hotel which is now a convention center owned by the Unitarian/Universalism Church (whose earliest known cemetery is my backyard) but which was once a popular resort managed by Celia Laighton Thaxter's father.
Her book is wonderful. She opens by describing the islands, both their geography and their history and then goes on to cover every aspect of life there. She rails quite furiously at how modern technology is ruining life there and how the newly built homes of settlers are an eyesore and destroy the charm of the ancient cottages. Since she wrote this in 1873 it is quite amusing to imagine how she would she her beloved islands today. Her love of the islands is on every page.
She amuses the reader with descriptions of the people, many of whom have lived their all their lives never stepping foot on the mainland. She describes their peculiar speech patterns, the odd, rolling gate that many of the men have developed from spending most of their time aboard ships. The discusses their habit of giving one another nicknames and odd local colloquialisms, rails against the drunkenness that has blighted the islands, and praises the women who seem to keep busy when the men are drinking. “Blessed be the man who invented knitting,” she writes, “It is the most charming and picturesque of quiet occupations, leaving the knitter free to read aloud or talk or think while steadily, surely beneath the flying fingers the comfortable stocking grows.”
In discussing mating rituals she recounts the native custom when a young man is besotted by a young lady he hides behind a tree and chucks rocks at her as she passes. If she turns to look at him that means she is interested. She tells of violinists who think that possessing a violin is all that is needed to make music and thus squawk out the most ear-splitting noise and give it pretentious, high-faulting names. In one charming passage she rhapsodizes about the sight of fishermen “Saxon-bearded, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and bronzed with shade on shade of ruddy brown” and goes on to say “the neutral blues and grays of the salt-water make perfect backgrounds for the pictures these men are continually showing one in their life aboard the boats. Nothing can be more satisfactory.” Celia! You naughty girl!
But amid the ghost stories, stories of wrecked ships, lost treasures, and amazing rescues are her descriptions of nature and there she is at her very best. She writes of storms and squalls, seals and snowy owls, songbirds and butterflies, the brilliant colors of island vegetation, and the beauties of the islands through the months from bleakest winter to sparkling summer.
This is a beautiful book – one that I'll keep and read again when I need a break from the mainland and the 21st century. It is a lovely little vacation in another era among the Isles of Shoals.
The islands are home to the Star Island Hotel which is now a convention center owned by the Unitarian/Universalism Church (whose earliest known cemetery is my backyard) but which was once a popular resort managed by Celia Laighton Thaxter's father.
Her book is wonderful. She opens by describing the islands, both their geography and their history and then goes on to cover every aspect of life there. She rails quite furiously at how modern technology is ruining life there and how the newly built homes of settlers are an eyesore and destroy the charm of the ancient cottages. Since she wrote this in 1873 it is quite amusing to imagine how she would she her beloved islands today. Her love of the islands is on every page.
She amuses the reader with descriptions of the people, many of whom have lived their all their lives never stepping foot on the mainland. She describes their peculiar speech patterns, the odd, rolling gate that many of the men have developed from spending most of their time aboard ships. The discusses their habit of giving one another nicknames and odd local colloquialisms, rails against the drunkenness that has blighted the islands, and praises the women who seem to keep busy when the men are drinking. “Blessed be the man who invented knitting,” she writes, “It is the most charming and picturesque of quiet occupations, leaving the knitter free to read aloud or talk or think while steadily, surely beneath the flying fingers the comfortable stocking grows.”
In discussing mating rituals she recounts the native custom when a young man is besotted by a young lady he hides behind a tree and chucks rocks at her as she passes. If she turns to look at him that means she is interested. She tells of violinists who think that possessing a violin is all that is needed to make music and thus squawk out the most ear-splitting noise and give it pretentious, high-faulting names. In one charming passage she rhapsodizes about the sight of fishermen “Saxon-bearded, broad-shouldered, deep-chested, and bronzed with shade on shade of ruddy brown” and goes on to say “the neutral blues and grays of the salt-water make perfect backgrounds for the pictures these men are continually showing one in their life aboard the boats. Nothing can be more satisfactory.” Celia! You naughty girl!
But amid the ghost stories, stories of wrecked ships, lost treasures, and amazing rescues are her descriptions of nature and there she is at her very best. She writes of storms and squalls, seals and snowy owls, songbirds and butterflies, the brilliant colors of island vegetation, and the beauties of the islands through the months from bleakest winter to sparkling summer.
This is a beautiful book – one that I'll keep and read again when I need a break from the mainland and the 21st century. It is a lovely little vacation in another era among the Isles of Shoals.
July 13, 2013
There were anecdotes and snippets that really came to life and made me eager to read more. The only problem was that there were even more sections of straight description (each plant and rock type) and many, many quotes from texts written in the 1600s. I couldn't get into it.
April 8, 2023
Celia Thaxter knows how to put words to feelings effortlessly. Lovely read along with learning of the perils and joys of the Isles of Shoals. History knowledge gained through her story telling. Nicely done.
June 6, 2015
Preparing for trip to Isles of Shoals Star Island in August.
July 30, 2023
Lovely homage to the Isles is Shoals. Vibrantly descriptive of flora and fauna on this Isles. Some ghost stories and sea wreck stories thrown in too.
Read
April 2, 2010Among the Isles of Shoals by Celia Thaxter (1973)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews