`Two If by Sea’ depict wartime life in Maine

TWO IF BY SEA, by Edward M. Holmes, Nightshade Press, 263 pages, $14.95.

University of Maine alumnus and teacher Edward M. Holmes depicts small-town life in Maine during World War II in his new novel.

“Two If By Sea,” a character study of three families living in a seacoast village, is skimpy in plot and action. It opens with a plane crash — which serves to introduce two Navy pilots who have little impact on the plot — and drags along disjointedly until the closing pages when the reader suddenly comes on a fire and a Nazi saboteur.

The interplay among characters is the book’s sole saving grace. They are an interesting lot — the rich Eberhardt family, boatyard owner Mace Gilson and his preacher wife, and lobsterman Lyle Blake and his family. Clinton Eberhardt, a businessman from Cleveland, comes across as an avuncular Monty Woolley. Gilson, we are expected to believe, is a socialist, even a communist, yet an inactive one; Gilson, saddled with a “fire-and-brimstone” preacher wife, takes up with his bookkeeper, Nancy, a divorcee. Blake is a crotchety type, made so because his true love, Clara, married Eberhardt.

The next generation is just as troubled. Lorraine Eberhardt, 17, and Allen Blake are wartime plane watchers. Blake is infatuated with Lorraine, a flighty, shallow young woman. Blake eventually ends up as the hero. And there are Irene Gilson, torn between her unhappy parents, and Louise Blake, who play minor roles. Other characters in this melange include the two aviators, who form a callow romantic challenge; assorted Coast Guard types; and a new minister, the Rev. Arthur Leighton.

The book suffers from too much “telling” and too little “showing.” There are long sections in which Holmes tells us of the backgrounds and thoughts of the characters, when action — doing — is needed.

The structure of the book is disjointed, especially in the early chapters. It opens with Irene and Louise caught outdoors in a storm. The next chapter abruptly has the two aviators crashing their plane on the golf course. Chapter three is about Lorraine and Allen as they watch for planes. There is no transition; we are left to try to figure out any connections among these three segments and their characters. Neither the storm, the plane nor the plane watching has anything to do with the plot. Eventually, the three scenes are loosely tied together by the character relationships.

Even the dialogue is difficult. The reader has hard work to keep track of who is speaking.

This is a flawed novel. It is saved by the picture of wartime life “on the home front” that it gives us.

Bill Roach is a book reviewer who lives in Florida.