The menace of moving

1912 postcard

“In the kind of New England I’m from, you are expected  to stay and marry someone from New England – well, Maine, actually – so I think it was seen as a betrayal when I left for New England, which has been my refuge.’’

--Elizabeth Strout (born 1956 in Portland, Maine) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist. She is married to former Maine Atty. Gen. James Tierney and divides her time between New York City and Brunswick, Maine.

Partly fleeing Maine

‘In the kind of New England I'm from, you are expected to stay and marry somebody from New England - well, Maine, actually - so I think it was seen as a betrayal when I left for New York, which has been my refuge.’’

— Elizabeth Strout (born 1956), novelist. She grew up in Harpswell, Maine, and now divides her time between Brunswick, Maine, and New York

'The landscape and the light'

An old postcard from Brunswick, where Bowdoin College and Elizabeth Strout (when she’s not in her New York City home) reside.

“I'm drawn to New England because that's where my roots are, and I miss it. I come from many generations of New Englanders, and so, in my writing, I've been drawn back there to the landscape and the light and the type of personality that's revealed.’’

— Elizabeth Strout, novelist (Olive Kittridge, for which she won a Pulitzer. is her best-known book).

Maine as literary material

The Harriet Beecher Stowe House, in Brunswick, Maine. That's where she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin, in 1850-52.

"In a way, I'm very interested in writing about Maine, because I think Maine represents its own kind of history. It's the oldest state {in average of residents}, and it's the whitest state.''

-- Elizabeth Strout, a novelist and native of Maine,  whose culture is the basis of much of her writing. She now divides her time between New York City and Brunswick, Maine, best known as the site of Bowdoin College. Her best known book is Olive Kittredge, set in a small town in The Pine Tree State.

Check out  nearby  gorgeous Harpswell, on Casco Bay. The town includes a wonderful seafood restaurant called Cook's.

On Lookout Point, Harpswell.

Fleeing to New York

Boothbay Harbor, Maine, during a fragrant low tide.

"In the kind of New England I'm from, you are expected to stay and marry somebody from New England - well, Maine, actually - so I think it was seen as a betrayal when I left for New York, which has been my refuge.''

-- Elizabeth Strout (Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist)