"Whenever Howard Mansfield writes about the world around him, whether it be small-town New England, or what compels us to preserve the artifacts of our lives, or the mystery of Time, I pay attention."--Mel Allen, editor, Yankee magazine Howard Mansfield's new book, Summer Over Autumn: A Small Book of Small-Town Life is named for what Mansfield calls the moment in late summer when the season is still going strong but you get that first glimpse at autumn. "There's a moment every summer when I look up at a nearby mountain and see a weakening of the green, and here and there like a splattering of paint, the first yellow leaves," writes Mansfield. "Autumn is beginning to slip out from undercover. I think of this moment as its own distinct time, as Summer Over Autumn. This is the moment that precedes the fall snap, the great colors, and the final bare season in November."Mansfield's new book is about such moments. Summer Over Autumn is a small book of small-town life. He has written twenty-one short essays over the last thirty years, stories about neighbors, animals, tractors, trees, yard sales, funerals, money, and fidelity to time itself. It's a book about the crooked path that is New Hampshire, about the parts that are postcard pretty, and the rougher parts that have a kind of hidden grace you have to live with to really see.He doesn't waste time with the "quaint postcard" view of a New England town, but shows readers where the real merit of small-town life lies. It can be found in the war waged against invasive, wild rosebushes, the hopeful placing of bets in the elm tree lottery, the artful dance of fundraising, and in bribing the band to play longer at the mechanic's anniversary party. He brings us the hidden stories in one chair, a conversation in passing, or a Fourth of July fireworks display. Like Hancock's crooked Main Street, the town and these stories are not just there for reminiscing; they are a "breathing lesson."Howard Mansfield is an everyday tourist and detective of the nearby. His ability to fully immerse himself in the here rather than rushing on towards there, has helped him create the wonderful essays in this small book full of big ideas. "Summer Over Autumn is a marvelous book, deep and extremely funny at the same time (a feat!). I wish I could buy a copy for every one of my New Hampshire friends, but I guess they're on their own." -- Rosellen Brown, author of Before& After, Street Games, and Cora Fry's Pillow Book "Hands-down,the finest writer of Yankee life today is this guy,Howard Mansfield. Howard Mansfield sees things differently than most of us, and he points stuff out that most of us miss. "Howard Mansfield [has] found a way to unlock the Yankee character." -- FrtizWetherbee, Chronicle, WMUR-TV "A charmer of a book." - The Keene Sentinel "Howard Mansfield has done it again, writing so eloquently about our everyday lives,making the normal feel extraordinary." -- The Concord Monitor A "delightful collection of essays." --Vermont Country Sampler Top 12 Nonfiction Book for 2017 - Water Street Bookstore, Exeter, New Hampshire. "Summer Over Autumn" is one of those books that you read, nodding in assent.Mansfield delivers an embarrassment of quotable lines and passages - more than many writers manage in a lifetime. While much of the book centers on small-town life, the takeaway from each piece tends to be universal. Mansfield's wry,humane, poetic brand of common sense has no geographic bounds. -- JoanSilverman, Portland Press Herald "A gorgeous collection that will certainly find great success as it has already traversed the pages of Yankee, The Boston Globe, and New Hampshire Home, but will become quiet, meditative a staple on New England bookshelves. As af requent performer with Actors' Circle Theatre's Shakespeare in the Park in Peterborough, and a writer who often walks the same streets that Mansfield covers in these pages, I can attest to the authenticity of these quiet,beautifully authentic portraits." --Garrett Zecker, publisher, actor, and teacher of writing and literature,Goodreads "Excellent book. I want to re-read it and savor each essay. For those who want a glimpse of small-town life, this will more than satisfy. If you live in a small town,you may smile in recognition. I've dreamed of living in New England in a small town. This book was like almost crossing this off the bucket list... or maybe moving it up further on the bucket list. "I am so excited about Howard Mansfield's writing that I am going to read more." -Linda, Goodreads "Excellent,like finding a small treasure." --Shannon Mckenzie, Goodreads "Howard Mansfield's vision for the small town is integrated with his prose, which is at turns funny, sad and beautiful, but always smart.This is a great book if all you're looking for is a learning experience, but it's also extremely entertaining, full of arcane knowledge (how to wind a giant clock), insight into small town life, and fabulous profiles of