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Tide Trilogy #1
High Tide at Noon
The struggles, hardship, and joy of one woman's life on a Maine island are brought to life in this haunting and enduringly popular trilogy, the first three books of the Bennett's Island series. Elisabeth Ogilvie tells the story of Joanna Bennett and her colorful life on Bennett's Island with a sensitivity and truthfulness born of her own early years on isolated Criehaven, the real Bennett's Island.
390 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1944
27 people are currently reading
388 people want to read
About the author
Elisabeth Ogilvie
75 books53 followersElisabeth Ogilvie’s striking evocation of the atmosphere of the Maine seacoast that is the background of The Seasons Hereafter is no accident, for she lived in just such an area for many years, and her love for its people and their way of life has influenced all her novels.
Her activities on Gay’s Island, where she spent most of the year, included writing, gardening, and “trying not to suspect that a bear is at the door, a moose lurking in among the alders, or a horned owl hovering overhead about to bear away the cat.”
She contributed a considerable amount of writing of magazine fiction and children’s books, and is the author of several novels, including There May Be Heaven, The Witch Door, Rowan Head, The Dawning of the Day, Storm Tide, and one book of nonfiction, My World Is an Island.
Her activities on Gay’s Island, where she spent most of the year, included writing, gardening, and “trying not to suspect that a bear is at the door, a moose lurking in among the alders, or a horned owl hovering overhead about to bear away the cat.”
She contributed a considerable amount of writing of magazine fiction and children’s books, and is the author of several novels, including There May Be Heaven, The Witch Door, Rowan Head, The Dawning of the Day, Storm Tide, and one book of nonfiction, My World Is an Island.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
May 17, 2019
What a gem!
Joanna Bennett was born and raised on an island in Maine, settled by her grandfather and bearing his name, Bennett’s Island. She is the only daughter, in a family with six sons. In the first chapter, we are told that the island is now deserted, but we are not told why, then Ogilvie begins to tell us Joanna’s story, and the story of what happened to an island that was vibrant and alive with a thriving lobster industry.
High Tide at Noon’s finest character is Bennett’s Island. Elisabeth Ogilvie makes it come alive: the flora, the fauna, the sea, and the people, that hardy brand of sea-going families that were once the backbone of our country. She builds characters that have depth and breath.
I have traveled several times to Tangier Island off the coast of Virginia. It is a small island with a population that has roots going back many generations; fishing is its mainstay. I could recognize the same kind of hardiness and entrenchment in Ogilvie’s people. They seemed real, because Elisabeth Ogilvie was one of them. She was familiar with the men and women who populated Maine’s islands and she puts her love and understanding of them down on paper with skill, finesse and love.
When I selected this book for my Women Writers Challenge, I did not know it was the beginning of a trilogy. I usually try to steer clear of series books, but after reading this one, I put the other two on order immediately. I certainly will not leave Joanna where she is sitting at the end of this book, I have to know how her future unfolds and what becomes of Bennett’s Island. I can’t help thinking, despite how hard life can be in this kind of environment, that we are all missing a lot who live inland and cannot sleep with the beat of the surf in our ears.
Joanna Bennett was born and raised on an island in Maine, settled by her grandfather and bearing his name, Bennett’s Island. She is the only daughter, in a family with six sons. In the first chapter, we are told that the island is now deserted, but we are not told why, then Ogilvie begins to tell us Joanna’s story, and the story of what happened to an island that was vibrant and alive with a thriving lobster industry.
High Tide at Noon’s finest character is Bennett’s Island. Elisabeth Ogilvie makes it come alive: the flora, the fauna, the sea, and the people, that hardy brand of sea-going families that were once the backbone of our country. She builds characters that have depth and breath.
I have traveled several times to Tangier Island off the coast of Virginia. It is a small island with a population that has roots going back many generations; fishing is its mainstay. I could recognize the same kind of hardiness and entrenchment in Ogilvie’s people. They seemed real, because Elisabeth Ogilvie was one of them. She was familiar with the men and women who populated Maine’s islands and she puts her love and understanding of them down on paper with skill, finesse and love.
When I selected this book for my Women Writers Challenge, I did not know it was the beginning of a trilogy. I usually try to steer clear of series books, but after reading this one, I put the other two on order immediately. I certainly will not leave Joanna where she is sitting at the end of this book, I have to know how her future unfolds and what becomes of Bennett’s Island. I can’t help thinking, despite how hard life can be in this kind of environment, that we are all missing a lot who live inland and cannot sleep with the beat of the surf in our ears.
October 15, 2017
Elisabeth Ogilvie (1917-2006) was a long-time resident of Gay’s Island and Cushing (52 years) and author of the Tide trilogy set on fictional Bennett’s Island (real-life Criehaven): perfect novels that do what perfect novels do, sweep you out of whatever’s going on, good or bad, and into a world of tragedy and humor and unpretentiousness, beautifully described and felt. Ms. Ogilvie lived just down the Cushing peninsula from us, but I didn’t discover that until it was too late. I would have made a pilgrimage.
June 30, 2024
I’d give this 4.5 stars. This book found me on a splendid early spring trip to Portland and it did not disappoint in its wonderful descriptions of Maine coastline and island lifestyle. I feel like this book is Anne of Green Gables meets hearty, Maine lobstering island community. Definitely worth a read followed by your own trip to a quaint Maine coastal community 🦞 Looking forward to reading the remainder of this trilogy!
January 26, 2026
4.5 , the review on the cover is "deeply satisfying" and I agree.
a romanticized take on what must have been a gruelling way of life on a Maine island, but at the same time not without honest hardship and tragedy
loved the family dynamics and frank way of the relationships, boisterous boys and their smart and brave women
looking forward to book 2 and 3!
a romanticized take on what must have been a gruelling way of life on a Maine island, but at the same time not without honest hardship and tragedy
loved the family dynamics and frank way of the relationships, boisterous boys and their smart and brave women
looking forward to book 2 and 3!
September 2, 2020
I think I read this book for the first time about 30 years ago and now I’ve read it again while visiting Maine for the first time. This is a wonderful descriptive novel set in the fictional lobstering community of Bennett’s Island, ME. I love it just as much as the first time I read it.
February 20, 2015
Not my usual kind of book, but I liked the idea of the island and the lobster fishing - and the writing about island life made me want to see it for myself. Some great descriptive paragraphs.
April 7, 2019
There was a point that I just wasn’t sure if I really like the book but in the end it completely won me over and I can’t wait to read the next book of the series.
It’s the story of Joanna Bennett and her community on Bennett Island. A coming of age story and much more.
It’s the story of Joanna Bennett and her community on Bennett Island. A coming of age story and much more.
January 9, 2025
It’s been years since I’ve read Elizabeth Ogilvy.I wasn’t sure if I’d like her writing as well. I’m happy to report that I do. It’s clear that she loves Maine and its islands, and her novels portray a way of life that most likely doesn’t exist any more. Her characters are sharply drawn. In the book, Joanna Bennett, born into a Bennett’s Island founding family, chafes at her role as the only daughter among a slew of boys. Her role is to help with the household chores instead of out lobstering with her father and brothers. She eventually accepts her role, and she marries another aspiring lobsterman. As cracks appear in her marriage and the lobster fishery fails, Joanna must adapt and adjust.
July 28, 2017
More a 3 1/2 than a 3 - almost a four.
I purchased this because I read a blog post that sang its praises. I started it, put it down, forgot, started it again, put it down, forgot. Started it one more time and finished. There were times I was riveted. I loved the world, the family, the dynamics of neighbors and station.
I liked the heroine's flaws - tempted by a black sheep.
I even liked when she chose poorly while golden boy brother, surprise-surprise, didn't.
When the heroine married, suddenly the world wasn't painted as in depth as her life as a daughter. I wanted more.
Then, the end, I still wanted more.
I will probably buy the third.
I purchased this because I read a blog post that sang its praises. I started it, put it down, forgot, started it again, put it down, forgot. Started it one more time and finished. There were times I was riveted. I loved the world, the family, the dynamics of neighbors and station.
I liked the heroine's flaws - tempted by a black sheep.
I even liked when she chose poorly while golden boy brother, surprise-surprise, didn't.
When the heroine married, suddenly the world wasn't painted as in depth as her life as a daughter. I wanted more.
Then, the end, I still wanted more.
I will probably buy the third.
March 6, 2018
Juvenalia with the usual warnings about gambling addiction and sexual harassment with an additional indictment of hard work in a small community despite worsening economic conditions where a dwindling lobster haul only provides enough revenue to gas up your motor for another outing. At the same time, it gives a strong female perspective on these issues. It was a little confusing at the beginning when Joanna returns to an empty island that suddenly is congested with her past acquaintances and family members. At the end of the story we learn the reasons for why the island has been deserted and Joanna actually does return to this island at that point to rediscover a lost love to start over again. I don't know if I would read the sequels or not, return of the native stories are sort of commonplace. I found it kind of nostalgic and ahead of its time for 1947, but of not much relevance now. Going back to an earlier time in a fictional setting that could have been romanticized by a lesser writer, did not change the drudgery of it all with the accompanying boozing and womanizing by the men and credit dependency on all for necessities. Despite being in the wilderness you became a slave to industry, much as a farmer is locked to his farm for continued support. I would recommend it to an aspiring writer to learn how to set up a novel with a well crafted storyline and polished descriptions of the natural world and the glory of love. I doubt however that anyone will take up lobstering due to it.
July 31, 2022
Bennett’s Island, Tide Trilogy, BK 1
Joanna Bennett has returned to the island of her birth, the island named for her grandfather who had first settled on the Island and raised her father and uncle Nate, who had birthed their sons and Joanna. She has come home, where her memories of her father Stephen and mother Donna and her older brothers Charles, Philip, Owen, and younger brothers Mark and Stevie came to life as do neighbors Nils, David and Kristi, Gunnar Sorensen’s harshly controlled grandchildren. Bane of the island’s existence are George Bird and his copper haired son Simon and wimpy Ash, who do and take what they please, and always seem to have more than their share of the lobstering upon which the island survives. The hot-headed Bennett sons are kept in line by their even tempered, law-abiding father, even as they suspect but can’t prove that their traps are being tampered with. Joanna desperately wishes she were a boy instead of being sent home away from the docks and shore. 16 and pretty, she rebuffs Simon, preferring her friendship with her silent chin, Nils, until Alec Douglas appears on the island to take over his grandfather’s homestead and a rapport develops between Alec and all her family, and makes her feel something new.
This is a novel of the challenge of island life, of the uncertainty of livelihoods pulled from the sea, of relationships, of growing up and taking responsibility, or not, and of love of Bennett Island.
Sequels are Storm Tide and The Ebbing Tide.
Joanna Bennett has returned to the island of her birth, the island named for her grandfather who had first settled on the Island and raised her father and uncle Nate, who had birthed their sons and Joanna. She has come home, where her memories of her father Stephen and mother Donna and her older brothers Charles, Philip, Owen, and younger brothers Mark and Stevie came to life as do neighbors Nils, David and Kristi, Gunnar Sorensen’s harshly controlled grandchildren. Bane of the island’s existence are George Bird and his copper haired son Simon and wimpy Ash, who do and take what they please, and always seem to have more than their share of the lobstering upon which the island survives. The hot-headed Bennett sons are kept in line by their even tempered, law-abiding father, even as they suspect but can’t prove that their traps are being tampered with. Joanna desperately wishes she were a boy instead of being sent home away from the docks and shore. 16 and pretty, she rebuffs Simon, preferring her friendship with her silent chin, Nils, until Alec Douglas appears on the island to take over his grandfather’s homestead and a rapport develops between Alec and all her family, and makes her feel something new.
This is a novel of the challenge of island life, of the uncertainty of livelihoods pulled from the sea, of relationships, of growing up and taking responsibility, or not, and of love of Bennett Island.
Sequels are Storm Tide and The Ebbing Tide.
September 9, 2018
Although not a page-turner, this was a good story. I was interested in learning the circumstances for why the island community had been abandoned. The story begins with the leading character returning to the island, then jumps back to the time when she was young and her family and other families lived on the island and supported themselves mostly by lobstering. I had heard that this author was known for her novels about life in Penobscot Bay, Maine, and enjoyed imagining what it would be like to live on an island without electricity or running water and only boats to bring people and supplies. Only the price of lobsters and date of publication gave any sense of when the story took place---before the mid-1940s.
July 9, 2022
I just finished High Tide at Noon by Elisabeth Ogilvie. I never would have found this book on my own. A friend handed me a small bag which contained the Tide Trilogy (of which this is the first book) and said, “Enjoy!”. And enjoy it I did!
This is the beautifully written novel about the Bennett Family who lived on tiny Bennett Island, located off the coast of Maine. I spent the entire week with this family, reading about the beauty of the island; the difficulties of lobstering; the joys and sadness of love, marriage, and death; and consequences of decisions we make as humans.
If you are interested in a book that reminded me of a cross between Anne of Green Gables and The Shipping News, this is the book for you! This was definitely five stars in my world.
This is the beautifully written novel about the Bennett Family who lived on tiny Bennett Island, located off the coast of Maine. I spent the entire week with this family, reading about the beauty of the island; the difficulties of lobstering; the joys and sadness of love, marriage, and death; and consequences of decisions we make as humans.
If you are interested in a book that reminded me of a cross between Anne of Green Gables and The Shipping News, this is the book for you! This was definitely five stars in my world.
May 13, 2025
Joanna Bennett is the only daughter of the 6 sibling Bennett family who lobster off Bennett Island off the Maine coast. This first book traces her growth from a rambunctious tomboy through her marriage, becoming a widow, and the birth of her first child. At the end of the book, everyone has left the island because economic conditions and weather are so bad....all except Joanna and Nils who has loved her since childhood but who she thinks of only as a friend. Interesting characters and view of the lobstering coast.
November 29, 2025
I enjoyed the book. Always a treat to read about Coastal, Maine and some of the dynamics never seem to change between folks in small communities. good to be reminded of the struggles lobstermen (&women) go through to earn a living.
A little hard to keep track of all the different characters names. She does a lovely job of describing the beauty of the island, plant and animal life, the weather and light.
A little hard to keep track of all the different characters names. She does a lovely job of describing the beauty of the island, plant and animal life, the weather and light.
June 29, 2021
I found this book tucked in a bookshop on a trip to Maine. The author wrote the book about a place she grew up near. It was truly a delightful story. It’s little womAn meets the sea. The author captures all the challenges that come with living on a island, between lobstering and love, the ups and downs are endless. I can’t wait to read the next book
April 13, 2024
A delightful historical fiction based on the author’s memories of her childhood. Probably the most sensual book I’ve read in a long time. I could see, hear, touch, and smell this island off the coast of Maine.
June 2, 2022
I have read this series and I really enjoyed it . In fact I want to read them again.
November 29, 2022
Love this series. I want to live on this island and be part of this family.
Read
August 2, 2024I have loved these Bennetts Island books since early teens…. in the 1970.’s
I highly recommend! Here description of island life in Maine really bring you there!
I highly recommend! Here description of island life in Maine really bring you there!
Read
April 30, 2025The writing in this book is just gorgeous.
September 16, 2020
This is my second trip through High Tide at Noon, and re-reads of the rest of the trilogy are soon to follow, I think. I've written elsewhere, and at length, about how I feel about Elisabeth Ogilvie (really stinkin' good!). To be clear, these are romance novels. They are relics of a an age when the anatomy of a romance novel was less concrete, when authors drafted by hand without the revision benefit of word processors. And, for the Bennett's Island books, part of the love affair is with the setting and a bygone way of life. The gender roles and light discussion of class and race don't hold up, but the idea that we long for fantasy worlds to call home that are similar-to-but-different-from our regular lives endures, and I'm grateful to E.O. for every word she gave us on Bennett's. I will come back to these books again and again, if only to hear Owen Bennett whine that his kid sister is "teaming" him around while she knits trap heads in the living room.
July 23, 2025
I think this book should be required reading for anyone living on an island, so I recommended it to my island book group - to my delight all but two of us hadn't read the book before, and most of them loved it so much they want to read other books in the trilogy, and more by Elisabeth Ogilvie.
This book made me want to live on an island, when in my young adult years in California, I first read it. Now I'm happy to say I live on an island. While I rarely read fiction more than once, this is a great book to revisit - every time I read it I notice something different.
This book made me want to live on an island, when in my young adult years in California, I first read it. Now I'm happy to say I live on an island. While I rarely read fiction more than once, this is a great book to revisit - every time I read it I notice something different.
March 25, 2008
I really got into this book. It's the first in a series about a woman who grows up on an island in Maine, where lobstering is the chief occupation. I'd enjoy it even if I didn't live up here, but it gave me a real look into the challenges of that kind of life.
I have friends who live on some of the island around here, but I had no idea what life could be like on them. This novel was first published in 1944, but you really don't get a sense of it being a period piece. The price of lobster is mentioned, and some of the clothing briefly, and the attitudes towards what was considered women's work are all there, but I know some island people who still have the same viewpoints! The relationships between people are a prime focus, and endure no matter how long ago it was written. You are really immersed in that whole way of life.
I have friends who live on some of the island around here, but I had no idea what life could be like on them. This novel was first published in 1944, but you really don't get a sense of it being a period piece. The price of lobster is mentioned, and some of the clothing briefly, and the attitudes towards what was considered women's work are all there, but I know some island people who still have the same viewpoints! The relationships between people are a prime focus, and endure no matter how long ago it was written. You are really immersed in that whole way of life.
October 9, 2016
Lush and lovely, hard and unforgiving, desperate and hopeful, this is a wonderful book from 1944.
After reading "A Mug-up With Elisabeth," I decided to begin with the Tide trilogy.
Joanna Bennett is a fully realized character as are most of those inhabiting this island and novel. Such fine tuning and awareness of nature, of color and smell and sound, of changing seasons in nature and human life - all makes me excited to finish the trio of books.
And I so love the idea that Ogilvie educated herself by doing and watching and writing - all the time - while living on Gay's Island and the mainland near Rockland, Maine. She lived long and well and remained true to what she knew. She knew her stuff, no doubt.
So glad that old is new again.
After reading "A Mug-up With Elisabeth," I decided to begin with the Tide trilogy.
Joanna Bennett is a fully realized character as are most of those inhabiting this island and novel. Such fine tuning and awareness of nature, of color and smell and sound, of changing seasons in nature and human life - all makes me excited to finish the trio of books.
And I so love the idea that Ogilvie educated herself by doing and watching and writing - all the time - while living on Gay's Island and the mainland near Rockland, Maine. She lived long and well and remained true to what she knew. She knew her stuff, no doubt.
So glad that old is new again.
March 30, 2009
I've read the Bennett's Island series by Elisabeth Ogilvie many times and I love them more each time. Ogilvie was a Maine writer and she infuses her stories with vivid descriptions of the physical beauty of the island. But the books are not sentimental. They detail the hard life of a lobstering family from the 1930's through the second World War. It's not really a family saga, though, as most of the books are told through the point of view of Joanna Bennett, who ages through the series.
If you love excellent writing and storytelling, I highly recommend this series.
If you love excellent writing and storytelling, I highly recommend this series.
September 23, 2014
As a new resident of mid coast Maine (Stockton Springs) and son of a southern new england lobsterman, I googled Maine authors/subjects and found Ms Ogilvie. I thought the subject of a Maine Island lobster fishing family would be enough to interest me even if the book was so-so. I was pleasantly surprised when I could not wait to pickup where I left off. A good read. I will continue the triolgy and move on to all her books as I restore my old Maine house with a view of,tho not on the water.
June 5, 2024
This was my second read of this book. I just needed to smell the fresh salt air and visit Bennett’s island again. I love the relationships, the culture, the old values in these books. This series of books started my love affair with Maine over 30 years ago, and it had the same effect on me still. For years we went every summer, but it’s been a few years and this summer we are going again!
March 21, 2009
I read this series probably 30 years ago and remembered loving them. Ogilvie's descriptions of all aspects of nature of her setting of an island off of Maine are exquisite. I truly enjoyed learning about the life of the lobster fishermen through the eyes of the strong island woman, Joanna.
October 19, 2012
This is a beautiful start to what became my "Summer on Bennett's Island" - I read all nine books (3 in each trilogy, 3 trilogies). Living on the coast of Maine made it easy to slip into life on the island and with this multi-generational epic story of a strong, close family. LOVE IT!!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews