the flora, fauna, and fishermen of the Isles of Shoals. Originally published in 1873, this book is a firsthand account of shipwrecks, storms, and simple lives 10 miles off the coast of New England. Celia Thaxter was a poet, artist, and noted gardener who spent much of her life on White, Smuttynose, and Appledore islands.She made the acquaintance of such luminous contemporaries as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Childe Hassam, William Wadsworth Longfellow, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. This book shines with attention to the smallest detail as Thaxter watches the seasons pass, the islanders age, and the times change in a tiny, seemingly abandoned corner of the world.