Island of First Light

by Norman G. Gautreau

Following on from the success of his first novel set in the 1940's, Sea Room, Norman Gautreau returns to the coast of New England with his second, Island of First Light. Set in contemporary time, Island of First Light takes place on a fictional island off the coast of Maine. Caitlin Bay has come to the island to escape her family which is falling apart because of her husband's affair and a disorienting car accident. She meets Freddy Orcutt, a old time resident on the island who embraces her as a daughter, and O'zalik Moseley, a Native American who is trying to preserve her own family's island heritage while battling her own familial disturbances. When Caitlin helps O'zalik to publish an account of a tragic event that happened to her people many years before, the islanders become incensed when they are forced to confront the atrocities of their own ancestors. Island of First Light is about human nature and the sense of family that we all search for when faced with adversity. Gautreau brings alive the rugged Maine coast reflecting a landscape that can be as turbulent and rugged as the lives of the people that live there.

Genres: Fiction

289 pages, Hardcover

First published April 5, 2004

About the author

Norm and his wife Susan were driving through the South of France, he at the wheel, Susan doing what she loves best when traveling: reading aloud the history contained in good travel guides. On that day they learned a lot about the troubadours and about the Cathars and the crusade to exterminate these peaceable people.
Somewhere between Carcassonne and Toulouse they noticed a road sign, “Route Entre Deux Mers” – Road Between Two Seas – and a metaphor took shape in Norm’s mind about a land between the dark Atlantic and the bright Mediterranean where, through the ages, people expressed the darkest and the brightest recesses of the human soul. It is a place some still call Occitania.
That night, he scribbled out an outline of a James Michener type epic stretching from the days of the prehistoric cave paintings all the way to the French Resistance in World War II. He is still planning out this massive project.
In the meantime he developed an overwhelming desire to write, so he soon quit his high-paying job and set himself up as a full time writer with the blessing and encouragement of his lovely wife. In 2002, MacAdam/Cage, published his novel "Sea Room." This book went on to win the prestigious Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction.
He followed it with "Island of First Light," also published by MacAdam/Cage, a novel that has become a readers’ group favorite. These books have been followed by the recent releases of "The Sea Around Them," "Iniquity," which took first place in the Indie Excellence Book Awards, and "Francesca Allegri" which was a finalist in the Indie Excellence Book Awards.

Reviews

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

50 States and At Least 50 Authors 2018 Reading Challenge. MAINE.

The Island of First Light was so named by the Native Americans. In more recent times it is known as Snagged Anchor Island. This is a well told tale of British killing or deporting Acadians from eastern Canada and attacks on the Natives of eastern Canada and Maine. A journal written hundreds of years ago by a Jesuit priest is found in a cave on the island. It tells the story of his attempt to save a group of Acadians and Native Americans. The descendants of the founders of Alabaster Island do NOT like O'zalik's attempts to obtain The Island of First Light for her people. They claim that she has no evidence of remains of her people on the island and Garret Webster refuses to allow her to go to the island to find any evidence. It seems that island holds secrets from hundreds of years ago as well as some much more recent secrets.

[JoAnn Plante · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It was about my favorite interests: Maine, Native Americans, the ocean and it was a realistic story. Although it blends past historical events with present day issues, I found it fascinating. The settings are so vividly describes, you can see them in your mind. The characters are real and each one is different, but they each share some traits with one another, so the story moves forward naturally.
The storyline is complex, but doesn’t present itself that way. Due to the careful placement of different characters’ events coming together in specific ways. the story moves forward and leads the reader to keep reading, while trying to piece it all together.
Although it’s a fictional tale, the setting and characters are loosely based on historical data and events, which make the story much more believable. The ending brings everything together and has a satisfying ending. This author writes well and this book deserves a read!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

As good a read as Norman Gautreau's Sea Room. Some mystery, some conflict, nice depiction of Maine and a good ending.