In time for Father’s Day

The father-daughter duo of Peter and Marissa O’Neil, longtime Vineyard visitors, have compiled Coastal Inspirations: Drawing Beauty and Meaning from the Sea. The coffeetable book of evocative photographs and quotations features images from the East and West Coast, including Vineyard beaches, boats, and more. (Vineyard Stories)
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
        – Howard Thurman

I spy a good beach read

Does summer bring out your secret penchant for thrillers? Then look to A.X. Ahmad’s debut novel, The Caretaker. A former Sikh Indian army captain tries to escape a shameful past by relocating his family to Martha’s Vineyard, where he works as a private estate caretaker, but soon gets caught up in international espionage. Kirkus Reviews calls it “a fast-paced literary thriller...top-notch effort in the first of a promising trilogy.” The author, raised in
India and educated at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Vassar College, now lives, writes, and teaches in Washington, DC, with occasional visits to Martha’s Vineyard. Purely for research, of course. (Minotaur Press)

Heartache and healing

The Vineyard seems to have more than its share of people who come here and just don’t seem to leave – often having experienced some pain on the mainland, usually with some family connection here, always looking for the restorative gifts of dear Martha. Paul Samuel Dolman is among the refugees. He turned his endearing and funny story into Hitchhiking with Larry David as a self-published paperback a couple of years ago. Now with a big publishing house comes a hardcover with additional material and the subhead: An Accidental Tourist’s Summer of Self-Discovery in Martha’s Vineyard. (Gotham Books)