The Dawning of the Day - Paperback

by Elisabeth Ogilvie (Author)

The first title in Elizabeth Ogilvies' Lover's Trilogy, The Dawning of the Day follows widow Philippa Marshall as she makes a life for herself as a schoolteacher on rugged Bennett's Island. As she grapples with her sense of loyalty to her deceased husband, Philippa must weigh the balance of her heart and mind, and plot the course of her destiny.

Front Jacket

Philippa Marshall arrives on isolated Bennett's Island as a young war widow eager to provide for her only son, left with relatives on the mainland. The insular island community initially welcomes her as the teacher in their one-room schoolhouse; but when she champions a clutch of neglected children, she finds herself thrust in the midst of a smoldering conflict between two prominent families. In a time when lobster "trapheads" were knit by hand and mail arrived weekly by boat, the prospect of a lobster war between the Bennetts and Campions threatens the livelihoods of everyone who calls Bennett's Island home. She further disturbs the precarious peace of the island when she opens her heart to handsome and thoughtful Steve Bennett, setting her further at odds with the rival Campions. Philippa must grapple with her love and sense of loyalty to her deceased husband, even as her feelings for Steve Bennett bloom against the rugged coastal landscape. She longs to be reunited with her son, but she's troubled by the specter of latent strife that lies beneath the tranquil surface of the island community. Philippa must weigh the balance of her heart and her mind and plot the course of her destiny. 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, suspenseful and romantic The Dawning of the Day, the first book in the Lover's Trilogy, renews faith in the beauty of community and inspires yearning for a simpler bygone era.

Author Biography

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.