BOOK REVIEW: 'The Language of Sand'
Abigail Harker Discovers the Difference Between a Tourist and a Resident When She Becomes the Lighthouse Keeper on Chapel Isle
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Book Critic
If you came to Chapel Isle for normal, you came to the wrong place. -- Merle Braithwaite to Abigail Harker in "The Language of Sand"
Recovering from the death of her husband Paul and four-year-old son Justin, Bostonian Abigail Harker accepts the post of guardian of the lighthouse on Chapel Isle, North Carolina, in Ellen Block's "The Language of Sand" (Bantam Books Trade Paperback Original, 288 pages, $15.00).
She arrives on the Outer Banks island in the fall off season, with all her possessions crammed into her Volvo station wagon and quickly discovers that the wonderful island she visited as a vacationer as a child is a completely different place for a woman alone as a permanent resident. Her husband rescued her when their house was engulfed in a fire caused by an improperly installed oven, and died when he went back to the house to rescue their son, who also perished in the blaze.
For one thing, the lighthouse living quarters is a mess and the real estate agent who put her into it, Lottie Gilquist, is an elusive woman, hard to reach when Abigail needs answers to questions about repairs to her new house. She quickly befriends Merle Braithwaite, who runs the island's hardware store and is an avid fisherman, and who helps her out in the (unauthorized) renovation of the quarters.
Another friend is a man she meets in the town's laundromat, Bert, who turns out to be a Chapel Isle native who became a distinguished professor of astrophysics at MIT and retired to his native turf. Merle tells her that the stout man with the underbite and the endless supply of quarters is Professor Bertram Van Dorst, who also worked at NASA and is the most brilliant person to come from the island.
A lexicographer by training, Abigail quickly learns she must search for the words to cope with her pain as well as the new environment that surrounds her. The lighthouse may be as haunted by the past as she is with the memories of her family. The ghost is not Casper the friendly ghost, but Wesley Jasper, the lighthouse keeper when it was a functioning lighthouse.
Abigail Harker -- she hates being called "Abby" but resigns herself to the perky nickname bestowed on her by everyone she meets -- is an attractive woman without a wedding ring (she put it in her husband's coffin), which means she is "bait" in the eyes of the island's married women, worried about the wandering eyes of their menfolk -- with good reason as Abby discovers when she temporarily takes over the island's neighborhood watch patrol from Merle when he's injured in a fall.
Abby learns that she's far from alone in suffering a devastating loss; virtually everyone, she meets on Chapel Isle -- including her invaluable friend Merle -- has experienced or is experiencing a life-changing loss. This includes the town's sheriff, Caleb Larner and a man named Nat Rhone whom Abby meets when she asks Merle to have someone check out the electrical wiring in her new home.
Abby at first is overwhelmed by the task of making the place livable, but with time and help from Merle and Nat and others she begins to craft a life for herself on Chapel Isle. Then a series of mysterious break-ins and the approach of a hurricane threatens everything she's worked for.
Block writes: “my character Abigail Harker and I share a singular, pertinent preoccupation. As a lexicographer, words are the mainstay of her career. As an author, words are the lifeblood of mine. In order to cope with her grief and the possibility of a resident ghost, Abigail must challenge the sanctity of language, thereby challenging herself. Her dogged pursuit of definitions has almost eliminated the necessity to feel. But moving to Chapel Isle forces her face to her emotions, posing the questions: what’s real, what isn’t, and is it words that make the difference?”
Ellen Block has written a wonderful book that will appeal to both men and women. It's a page-turner that I didn't want to end. There's a Random House Reader's Circle section for those who want to use "The Language of Sand" in a book group. There's good news from the author, too: She's working on a sequel, so we're going to experience the further adventures of Abigail/Abby, Merle, Bert, Nat, Caleb Larner, Lottie Gilquist and all the other unforgettable characters in the book.
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About the Author: Ellen Block has written two novels, ""The Lightning Rule" and "The Grave of God's Daughter" and a short story collection "Destination Known" using the name Brett Ellen Block. She lives in Los Angeles. Her web site: www.ellenblock.net.