Vanessa Barton steps onto Bennett’s Island for the first time as if she is stepping into a prison cell. She feels trapped by her marriage, she carries the emotional shackles of a childhood spent as a ward of the state, and she wants nothing to do with the island community. A chance encounter with Owen Bennett sparks off an attraction that brings Vanessa to life, as she discovers something real that eclipses the fantasies of the novels she reads. Owen leads her on a path of self-discovery that forces her to confront long buried feelings and begin healing old emotional scars. Island life shakes Vanessa out of her self-pity but when misfortune knocks once again at her door, she must decide once and for all whether to succumb to the fugue of her earlier days or whether to seize her independence and happiness. Elisabeth Ogilvie captures the ambience of Down East Maine and island life better than any other writer. . . . Her characters are real, her dialogue is strong, and her exposition and narrative are lyrical prose. ― Portland Press Herald Absorbing. ― The Boston Globe Vanessa Barton steps onto Bennett's Island for the first time as if she is stepping into a prison cell. She feels trapped by her marriage to the adoring but simple Barry Barton, she carries the emotional shackles of a childhood spent as a ward of the state, and she wants nothing to do with a community of meddling islanders. A chance encounter with the perceptive and tempestuous Owen Bennett sparks off an attraction that brings Vanessa to life, as she discovers something real that eclipses the fantasies of the novels she reads. Owen leads her on a path of self-discovery that forces her to confront long buried feelings and allows her, at last, to heal her emotional scars. Life on rugged Bennett's Island shakes Vanessa out of her self-pity and grants her the chance to experience life in all of its warmth, sharpness and glory. When misfortune knocks once again at her door, she must decide once and for all whether to succumb to the fugue of her earlier days or whether to seize her independence and happiness. Elizabeth Ogilvie transports her readers to another time and place as she infuses her characters with the convictions of real and powerful human emotions and spins her tale with tenderness and keen sensitivity. Bennett's Island breathes off the page of the book with the vitality and depths of its inhabitants. At turns lyric, dramatic and romantic The Seasons Hereafter, the second in the Lovers Trilogy, paints a picture of a woman's quest for self-determination and inspires yearning for a simpler bygone era. Elisabeth Ogilvie wrote 46 books including The Seasons Hereafter, Strawberries in the Sea and her memoir My World is an Island. In 1947 she won the New England Women’s Press Association award for Storm Tide. Ogilvie grew up in the greater Boston area, but lived in Maine from 1944 until her death in 2006 and remains one of Maine’s best loved writers.