It’s time to introduce a new author to our occasional series about authors associated with Casco Bay islands, Jeanne Gribbin! Jeanne is the sister of Ellen Harford, a year round Long Island resident, and has recently published her first novel, A Place of Herons, which takes place in late 19th century Maine, including Casco Bay. I caught up with Jeanne a few months ago to ask her a few questions about her novel:

How would you describe this book – historical fiction? Historical romance? The setting is historical, but the characters seem quite modern and informal in language and behavior.

I would say it’s Historical Romance. In some of the activities I had to do to get published there was usually not a ‘check off box’ for Historical Romance. There is also a new category called Womans Fiction which I thought it could fit too. Ultimately, my male readers like the history while the women like the romance. 

I loved the descriptions of traveling in the greater Portland area and Portsmouth (where I used to live) –  how did you do your research into 19^th century coastal Maine and New Hampshire? Are Stony Manor and the Goddard Mansion based on real places? And there is still a boatyard in the same place?

I am very familiar with Portland. My dad worked at the Grand Trunk Steamship office down on the corner of India. He was a private investigator for Canadian National Railroad. Starting at age 6, I would walk with him around the train yard and the warehouses on the wharfs. I did take some Portland tours, looked at historical books on Portland and met with people in historical societies.

Stony Manor is a real place on Cumberland Foreside. It was abandoned when I was in high school. That was when I first went through it and I knew I would write about it someday. It was turned into condos maybe in the 80’s and the area around it was cleared out and developed with affluent homes.  

There were boatyards in Yarmouth and at the Cumberland town landing which was actually much closer to the manor. I’m not sure why I chose Yarmouth other than I knew that boat yard better. There were a lot of sea captains in both those areas back then. 

The Goddard Mansion is the big ruin on the water in Cape Elizabeth at Fort Williams. 

Some novels put dates in the chapter headings, but I noticed that you didn’t – I would guess ca. 1850s?

I had more like 1890 in mind. I left it a little loose. Being a new writer I wanted to be able to take liberties if I didn’t get details just right. I’m hoping to improve my skills. 

How long was this story in your mind before you started writing it? How long did it take to write? I understand it’s a trilogy?

I was about 16 when I saw the manor and started writing about 40. Having a full time career and raising children didn’t leave me with much time for self indulgence. I piddled away at it for a long time. Mostly at South Beach on Long. I never really liked the ending, it was too cliche. I changed the ending and made such a mess trying to go back through the whole thing and lean toward a different ending. I’d say I have learned not to do that again. When I retired in 2018 I cleaned it up and sent it to an editor just to see if it was viable. She loved the story; she did not really like the ending but she got it. She gave me places to fix as well as pointed out places that she really loved the writing and the scenery. That gave me encouragement to go to a publisher. Also somewhere in there I joined Maine Writers Alliance and took a lot of classes. Anyway getting published is another whole job. I ended up going with Maine Publishers and they are a great bunch of people and writers.

By the way, Maine Authors thought the ending was nebulous as well. I tweaked it a little and just let it rip. That sort of made me feel like I had to write a sequel. I think the first book leads well into a trilogy. The next one is Samantha’s story when her mother is found. It will come out this year and a lot of it takes place in the Phippsburg area, the north end of Casco Bay. The third book will follow Camilla and probably take place more around Cape Elizabeth, the south end of Casco Bay.     

I love that the main character is Italian, but lived in France and was married to a Dutchman? Maybe that’s where the more modern behavior comes in -the meeting of 19^th century Europe and 19^th century New England. Starting the novel with a shipwreck is brilliant, and a wonderful way to draw the reader in. Mariah is a survivor!

Thank you. They say write what you know. My Mom came from a large Italian family. I wanted Mariah to be a painter so studying in France fit. The Dutch husband got thrown in as a way to get her leaving for the U.S. I have been to Europe and all those countries are really like moving from State to State here. Camilla’s story will start in Europe and the second book will lead the reader to where she is going.  

The speech is definitely more casual than it would have been in that time period. It was really just a hard thing to do to stay in a formal language and sound natural. I am hoping the casual ease works better for adult readers of today. All the crazy stuff that happens, I am positive happened regardless of speech. 

I’ve spent a lot of time on boats. My whole life, all kinds of boats. I had some early critique that it didn’t seem realistic that Mariah was not more freaked out in the dinghy. It was a good point. I tried to add some backstory around. Basically I am comfortable on the water and so, there are people who are.

Interesting about Eli and his associations with the Native Americans – I would love to hear more about where that came from.

Funny. A history teacher came over to talk with me at one of the fairs. I told him you can’t write history about New England without running into Indians. He agreed. But that just all happened by chance. I ended up falling in love with my Eli character. He was so much fun to write.

Tell me more about Pella, Iowa? Have you been there? My grandparents came from the Netherlands, and while I’ve not been to Pella, I am familiar with it as a place where many Dutch landed.

I did go to Pella to do research. It’s a very pretty town that still has a Dutch influence. I could have spent way more time there but the book was really about Maine.  I wanted to be grounded in the area and their historical society had some videos. I bought a historical book about it that was written by a Scholte. It is called A stranger in a strange land.    

Is the island based on Long Island? Although I thought there may be people living on the island in that period, but perhaps not quite yet. I’m amazed that the water was warm enough to swim in (brrr), in the novel.

The island is based on Long Island but in 1890 Long was not deserted. So I kind of left it loose. I also think islanders may not be happy if a bunch of readers show up and bombard our favorite spots. Alas I lost the battle and in book 3 Mariah is building a house on Long.

The water, LOL like I said, I’ve been here a long time and do swim in our frigid waters. The water is the warmest in September. Warmer by Mainer standards. 

How was your experience in publishing your book (a friend of mine just published her second book with the same publisher). Where have you been selling your books?

My experience with Maine Authors Publishing has been fantastic. Otherwise, it was very hard to first figure out what the requirements are for each different publisher and even get them to look at the book. Submitting to get an agent is just as hard. For me, I’m not a professional writer or at least I’m a new writer and following the lingo of publishing that also constantly changed was disheartening. 

The book is on Amazon which I think is a must. I am selling through The Maine Authors Website, my website, my Facebook page, word of mouth with groups I belong too, like even my high school page and a lot of fairs. Having a signing at Bookstores does well.  Maine Authors has a spring and fall magazine of their new books for the bookstores to pick them up.  This winter I will do a book club campaign then back to local events, libraries and more stores. I’m even going to brave the cruise ship shopping lines.  

I notice you used the last name “Harford” for the lawyer in Portsmouth – did you use names of family and friends in your book? (I think I saw an Ellen in there too 😊)

Yes, naming the characters can be fun and sometimes challenging. Even if I don’t name people I know, sometimes I use their persona. It makes it a lot easier if the character’s persona is someone I know then I can predict how they would react. It is harder to create a fake persona and stay true to it. 

Congratulations to Jeanne on her first novel, and we look reading the rest of the books in the trilogy!