One fine day in July 1947 Conrad Labarde a Basque fisherman and his partner Rollo are hauling in their net and the familiar twitch of the line is absent, and where are the pulls and tugs against the twine, or a flicker of a surface break? They both know that they have an inert load beneath the pewter skin of the sea and there is nothing else to do but bring it in. It is what they hoped it wasn’t, a dead woman still beautiful but sea washed and peaceful.
The setting for this mystery is the south fork of Long Island at Amagansett near East Hampton not far from the most eastern part of New York, Montauk Point. This is a community that has been settled over the centuries by fishermen of all kinds and all nationalities. From early days this was a perfect spot for capturing the right whale, which swam in these cold Atlantic waters, and yet it was a great breeding ground for smaller sea life like scallops and oysters. The gatherers of this kind of food were called Bonackers.  |
| Right Whale |
Montauk folk were initially the Montaukett Indians but Norwegians, Finns, Spaniards, Danes, Dutch and Portuguese joined them for the fishing. The Italians came for the building of the Long Island Railroad and the Irish just came. The whalers had distain for the Bonackers who harvested mainly small stuff such as clams, scallops and oysters, the early settlers looked down on all new comers and worst of all they were all considered invisible and of no account to the Gatsbian types who left the city to build summer homes in the Hamptons.
In this fairly isolated area it was not surprising that Conrad knew the dead woman and he wanted to know what happened to her. But this was the job of a relative newcomer to the area, Deputy Tom Hollis, originally from the city, to find out why this young woman was found in the water. The first thing he notices is that she was wearing jewelry and he realizes there is more to the story.
The victim of the drowning is soon revealed to be Lillian Wallace who belongs to a wealthy family who wants a quick resolution to the case because her brother is interested in running for a political office. The Chief of the East Hampton Police is a kowtower to people of influence and he too wants the death written off.
The power of this story comes from the depths of the characters and their backgrounds. Conrad Labarde served in a very elite unit during the war, and even in it he was unique and feared because he seemed to be guarded by angels. He knew better, but like most he never spoke of his wartime experiences, except for one time. He said that war tears at the heart of every man and at the sense of who he is.
‘ You could be brave one minute, a coward the next, selfless then cruel, compassionate and heartless within moments of each other. You spent a lifetime forging a view of what made you tick, what marked you out from other men. Then war came along and ripped that construct limb from limb. It seized you by the neck, pressed your face to the mirror and showed you that you weren’t one thing or another, but all things at the same time. The only question was: which bit of you would show up next? That’s what F**ed you up. The not knowing.’
Tom Hollis had his life torn apart in a different way but he learned many of the same life lessons. He knew that it had to be something Lillian had experienced that led to her death.
Eastern Long Island in 1947 is distant time and place but Mark Mills has no problem capturing the essence of the era as well as the location. This book brought back memories of my own of visiting Montauk Point with friends in the early ‘60s and watching the breakers of the Atlantic crash on the shore as we looked out from what seemed like land’s end.
In this fairly isolated area it was not surprising that Conrad knew the dead woman and he wanted to know what happened to her. But this was the job of a relative newcomer to the area, Deputy Tom Hollis, originally from the city, to find out why this young woman was found in the water. The first thing he notices is that she was wearing jewelry and he realizes there is more to the story.
The victim of the drowning is soon revealed to be Lillian Wallace who belongs to a wealthy family who wants a quick resolution to the case because her brother is interested in running for a political office. The Chief of the East Hampton Police is a kowtower to people of influence and he too wants the death written off.The power of this story comes from the depths of the characters and their backgrounds. Conrad Labarde served in a very elite unit during the war, and even in it he was unique and feared because he seemed to be guarded by angels. He knew better, but like most he never spoke of his wartime experiences, except for one time. He said that war tears at the heart of every man and at the sense of who he is.‘ You could be brave one minute, a coward the next, selfless then cruel, compassionate and heartless within moments of each other. You spent a lifetime forging a view of what made you tick, what marked you out from other men. Then war came along and ripped that construct limb from limb. It seized you by the neck, pressed your face to the mirror and showed you that you weren’t one thing or another, but all things at the same time. The only question was: which bit of you would show up next? That’s what F**ed you up. The not knowing.’
Tom Hollis had his life torn apart in a different way but he learned many of the same life lessons. He knew that it had to be something Lillian had experienced that led to her death.
Eastern Long Island in 1947 is distant time and place but Mark Mills has no problem capturing the essence of the era as well as the location. This book brought back memories of my own of visiting Montauk Point with friends in the early ‘60s and watching the breakers of the Atlantic crash on the shore as we looked out from what seemed like land’s end.
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| Montaukett Indian |
He also used the language of the sea beautifully and it was foreign to me as he spoke of longshore sets turning and right whales bound east’rd inside the bar. I loved it.
I also took home from this book that this area once belonged to the Montaukett Indians and moneyed developers wanted to make a northern Miami Beach in the area, setting aside agreement with the native people. Judges declared the Montauketts extinct even while they sat in their courtrooms in full regalia. A hurricane in 1938 stopped the plans for a while but money will always talk and it will be heard.
I also took home from this book that this area once belonged to the Montaukett Indians and moneyed developers wanted to make a northern Miami Beach in the area, setting aside agreement with the native people. Judges declared the Montauketts extinct even while they sat in their courtrooms in full regalia. A hurricane in 1938 stopped the plans for a while but money will always talk and it will be heard.
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