Strawberries In The Sea

Lover's Trilogy #3

by Elisabeth Ogilvie

If you think you're awkward and plain, you won't believe your mirror, even if it tells you a very different story. So it is with Rosa Fleming. Shy and big for her age even as a child, she stuck close to her widowed father, a Maine lobsterman, throughout her growing years, and was as much at home in the rough seas and swirling fog as any man who lobstered for a living. No wonder, then, that when the dazzling Connall Fleming, in every way the antithesis of what she thinks she is, wants to marry her, she skips to the altar. Wiser heads in the village think Con isn't worth the tail of a mackerel, and not half good enough for Rosa, so nobody but Rosa is very surprised when he asks for a divorce to marry a pretty girl he thinks he's gotten pregnant.

Desolate at the loss of a rare and precious part of her life, Rosa navigates the tricky run to Bennett's Island in the family lobster boat, hoping in her desperation and defeat to hide from any world she has ever known.

She is young and healthy and shortly discovers that life has no intention of passing her by, even in a remote spot like Bennett's Island. There are people who have lived on the island, summer after summer, and known Rosa as a child; there are teenage girls who come around to visit and to plead with her to play the guitar which hangs on the wall of the shack she has borrowed from Jude Webster; there are young lobstermen, not all of whom welcome her setting traps in their territory. There is a climactic fight between the lobstermen and the invading purse seiners which involves Rosa in a relationship with a man which is at once degrading and yet restores her pride and dignity in herself.

The ugly duckling is very nearly a swan, as Elisabeth Ogilvie quietly closes her 27th book.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

275 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1977

About the author

Elisabeth 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.

Reviews

[Sue Kozlowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love all her books in this series. Very simple and plain. Can almost smell the coffee they love to drink and feel the cold air when they go for a walk. Very relaxing reading.

[Tamara Crowley · Rating 5 out of 5]

For many reasons, this is my favorite in the series. If you haven't been to Bennett's Island, pick up the book and GO!

[Sharon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was so frustrating... I really hated the premise and the characters. This woman loved this jerk and married him and when he kept having affairs and made another woman pregnant she divorced him so he could do the right thing. She kept loving him and wanting him until she found another shit to take his place but he ended up physically beating her and luckily the story ended. What a dreary book.

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bennett’s Island saga, book 6, Lovers Trilogy 3.

There are some people you are better without. For Rosa McKinnon Fleming it is her roaming husband Connell Fleming who has gotten a young widow pregnant and wants a divorce so that he can marry her. Jude Webster, Rose’s mothers cousin is there to support Rose when she applies for the divorce. He allows her to rent his family’s former home on Bennett’s Island for the summer. Rosa takes her fathers boat the Sea Star, loads it up and takes off with 40 of Connell’s lobster traps on board and heads out to Bennett’s island in rough weather, but safely makes it. Asking directions to the Webster’s dock, she is told off for thinking she can waltz in and start lobstering by a surly young man working in his boat. She later learns he is Jaime Sorensen, whose mother is Joanna Bennet who’s family founded the island. Rosa is a quiet, self sufficient loner getting settled in and repairing the old home as she begins to meet the islanders. Her cousin Edwin Webster, comes to bring her supplies. He had terrible rages and experiences on the island as a frustrated child no one realized was deaf. Now a gifted builder and artist, he still fights the demons of prejudice.
The author exquisitely details the old island atmosphere, the hardships of lobstering, fishing wars, the wind and waves and sea and the complex independent people who make their livings on the island. Young crushes, storms, disputes, a man lost overboard, disappointments, gaining self awareness, this is a story overflowing with life and love.

[Robin McCarthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating. Much less adherence to genre, and not a romance novel at all, Strawberries in the Sea is about the main character’s process of self-discovery. She escapes to Bennett’s Island to heal her wounds, and while she doesn’t find love for the island or other humans, she does find some self-esteem. Very fun to see Edwin Webster from The Dawning of the Day play an important role, and Owen Bennett and Van Barrett are conspicuously absent from the island.

Hippies, folk music, premarital sex without moral judgement, jobs for ladies, jokes about weed... written 1977, Ogilvie is now a generation and a half away from where she started. The island doesn’t change, nor do the problems of its characters, but its interesting to see how Ogilvie’s world for fiction widened as society loosen up a little.

The pacing is off and many of the interactions between characters feel a little superficial. Certainly not Ogilvie’s best, but a super interesting addition to the Bennett’s books.

[Bexter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whoa. I thought book 2 in this series was dark...this one takes a dive into some very disturbing territory. Each book can stand alone, but they are all set on Bennet's Island. Ogilvie is an outstanding writer but basically unknown to modern audiences. Some plot elements would be offensive to readers today, but if you can set that aside, these books are really interesting. In some ways her writing reminds me of Rachel Carson's descriptions of the coast.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too dated. Even for being published in the 1970s. Maybe east coast was different from my west coast ‘70s high school years. If you are interested in lobstering, or Maine fishing industry in the ‘70s (assuming it’s accurate), you might like it. Didn’t care for the protagonist either.

[Trish Remley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trilogy #3 3.5 rating Copyright 1973

[Cathy Ouellette · Rating 1 out of 5]

That’s enough of Elizabeth Olgilvie for me!

[Gena Lott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gorgeous tale of love and tragedy. Ogilvie is a master story-teller and really pulls the reader into the epic stories she tells.

[Miki · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate books that don't have an ending, but just quit and leave you looking stunned at the last page. If I wanted reality, I'd face it instead of reading to escape it.

[Terri · Rating 2 out of 5]

The leading lady of this book...well, she kind of goes ga-ga towards the end. I think this is a good story until it hits this part, then it kind of falls apart, then comes together again at the end. A bit odd.

[Shelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

Didn't want it to end!

[Dorrit]

She's a great writer!

[Mimi Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable reading, loved her writing. So descriptive and felt exactly like living on an island. Will recommend to all on the island!

[Sarah Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, I can't wait to read the preceding two novels in the trilogy. I am on edge to find out where this epic tale began.