The Nautical Mile Series is all about having fun on the water. A reading adventure is about to begin, so climb onboard! Salty Summer is the first book in the series. Books will be available in late October 2011 at Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, and online at Amazon.com. Be a part of the adventure!

Read all about it on Donna Danielle McCartney's blog:  The Nautical Mile Series

Last year's Oscar winning film Black Swan entranced millions with its haunting portrayal of a fragile dancer in the acclaimed ballet Swan Lake. Suddenly people who had never set foot in a ballet hall were alerted to the magic of Swan Lake, whose enduring spell is at least partly owed to the birds that inspired it. In the search for natural grace, one need look no further than the swan--and some of us need look no further than our own back yards.

Virginia resident Gwen Keane is one of the lucky ones. For the past eight years she and her husband have watched these majestic creatures come and go from their waterside home, befriending them, taking snapshots, learning their ways. Now Ms. Keane has compiled those images and experiences into a book, published under the title Swan Wait and newly released this fall.
 
On a summer morning in 2003, two adult mute swans and their cygnet sailed down Virginia's Indian Creek in the Northern Neck and into the lives of Gwen Keane and Bill Balderston. In the upcoming years Gwen and Bill would welcome more of these graceful birds to their dock, and with each swan pair came new lessons to learn, new secrets of swan life to discover. Comprised of the couple's photographs, memories, and insights into the delicate relationship between mankind and the natural world, Swan Wait is the humbling and heart-warming record of two humans and their unlikely teachers. It's an ideal coffee-table book and a perfect gift for bird lovers, swan enthusiasts, or anyone who delights in the beauty of nature.
 
Gwen Keane was born and raised in the Northern Neck of Virginia. As a child growing up in the small community of Ditchley, she loved exploring the surrounding wilderness. Although she left her rural origins in 1967, she returned to visit regularly over the years. Gwen is a graduate of Trinity University and Georgetown University. In 2003, she retired from federal service and moved back to the Northern Neck, where she now lives with her husband and pets. Gwen and her Maltese, Isadora, who kayak together, enjoy their close connection to nature and local wildlife.

Rena Roberts Shipp will review her books “I did it Nanna’s Way” and “Carly’s First Day” at the Books Alive Program at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 26, at the Northumberland Public Library at 7204 Northumberland Highway in Heathsville.

Shipp, a retired Essex County educator and administrator, always wanted to write but found it difficult while employed. As soon as she retired, she enrolled in a writing class and kept on going.

Not surprisingly, her books are geared for young adults. “Today’s teens are surrounded by risky behavior,” she told WXGM’s Neal Steele, “I wanted to focus on a young lady trying to do the right thing.”

Carly and her sister Lissa are being raised by their grandmother, a familiar scenario today. The first book presents Carly, who struggles with the peer pressure, class politics and competition of school as well as the watchful eye of grandmother Nanna. In the second book, Carly enters high school and ever more pressure, complicated by a feeling of abandonment because of her parents’ absence. Readers laugh and cry with Carly as she navigates the slippery slopes of adolescence.

A discussion and book signing will follow the review and refreshments will be available. Books Alive is a free program sponsored by the Northumberland Friends of the Library. For more information, call coordinator Nancy Fuchs, 804-453-7074.

By Carter Prillaman

The House at Riverton: A Novel by Kate Morton, Published by Atria; First Edition edition (April 2008), list $24.95.

It has been a long time since I have read a book so thoroughly engrossing, suspenseful, and entertaining. The House at Riverton: A Novel, a debut novel by Kate Morton, is all of this and more. With the first line came an obvious homage to Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier, which at first annoyed me and then delighted me as the author not only created a world worthy of DuMaurier but also spun a tail at once both familiar and original.

The story begins as a flashback. The narrator, Grace, now very old, is being sought as a reference for a movie being produced about a scandal that took place at a country party at Riverton Hall, where she served as a maid beginning at age 14.  The story, seen through Grace’s eyes, gives a vivid account of  the lives of  the rich before and in the aftermath of World War I.

From the blurring of the lives of the “Upstairs” and the “Downstairs” to the changes wrought to those who served in the war and did not come home quite the way they left, the story progresses in a believable fashion and works its way to a masterful conclusion.

I know I will seek out additional books by Kate Morton as they are published. Her second effort, The Distant Hours: A Novel was published in 2010 and is officially on my wish list. You can find The House at Riverton: A Novel, at the Lancaster Library as well as bookstores.

Artist-poet-storyteller Dorothy Alves Holmes will discuss her work at
the Books Alive Program at 7 p.m. Tuesday, February 22 at the
Northumberland Library.

She has been writing poetry since she was 16. “It was like breathing
to me,” she says. Her first book of poems, “People Talk,” was
published in 1978. She writes of the human experience and readers find
themselves chuckling on one page at washtub wisdom and wiping away a
tear next as they read of a new widow’s attempts to enjoy a party.
She credits Maryland Poet Laureate (1979-1985) Lucille Clifton for
helping her organize her work and providing valuable advice. Holmes
won the Mid-Atlantic Poetry Award in 1987.

A Baltimore native, she relocated to the Tappahannock area in 1992 and
quickly became involved in a reading program for children at the Essex
County library. Today she is the coordinator of 123 Read, a program
that encourages reading readiness in preschoolers.

Her most recent work is a collection of poems called “Let the Music Play.”

When she’s not writing poems, Holmes can be found crocheting and
painting—she earned three first place ribbons and two second place
when she entered her work at the Virginia State Fair.
A discussion and book signing will follow the review. Refreshments
will be available; admission is free. The library is located at 7204
Northumberland Highway (rte 360) in Heathsville.