DARK HARBOR HOUSE by Tom DeMarco, Down East Books, 2001, 280 pages, paperback, $14.95

I have to admit it. I wanted to hate this book.

Not because of the cover; it’s pretty. Not because of the author; I’d never read anything he’s written. It was the cast of characters that got me: a colonel, his family, a Broadway actress, a handful of Ivy League students, all from away and all frolicking in a summer “cottage” called Dark Harbor House; and then the Mainers, a carpenter, a contractor and a few servants. How cliche, I thought.

Then I started reading.

In his seventh book, Camden author Tom DeMarco has assembled a motley crew of characters – each funnier than the last – and built a sweet, intriguing story around them and the ramshackle estate in which they spend the summer. It’s an old-fashioned story of young love, history and a bit of scandal, which DeMarco sprinkles in at the most unexpected moments. He gave me just enough to pique my interest, then, just when I settled into reading, he’d reveal another surprising tidbit.

The story centers on Liam Dwyer, an entirely self-conscious and self-absorbed Cornell student who likes to think he’s a poet. It is the late 1940s, and Liam has been invited by the Forsythes to return to their Islesboro summer home, called Dark Harbor House.

There, he reunites with the other “young moderns,” a group of Ivy-Leaguers that includes the lovely Laura Beauchalet, aka the object of Liam’s desire; the not-so-lovely Lizzie Groton, a student at Smith who is an avid birder; the hormonally fueled Evan Mayberry, a college friend of the Forsythes’ son, Clark; Angela Pickering, a classmate of Laura and the Forsythes’ elder daughter, Sissy; the Forsythes’ nephew Compton, who is Sissy’s nemesis; and Bruno Nougat, a jazz musician who’s friends with Sissy; and Gabriella Lake, a beautiful actress.

Liam, the book’s awkward hero, is a painfully innocent young man. Though he tries to be sophisticated, nearly everything shocks him – Laura’s bare knees, any mention of nudity, and especially Dark Harbor House’s not-so-wholesome history.

With characters such as cereal magnates W.K. Kellogg, Charles W. Post and the fictitious Dr. Orin G. Ralston, DeMarco concocts a hilariously bizarre past for the aging mansion. In the 1890s, the house was a religious compound of sorts, where the Gideons, followers of Jeannie Isobel, came for spiritual revivals. The thing is, these “revivals” involved rituals that proved shocking at the time, including – gasp – naked, coed baptisms in Dark Harbor House’s saltwater pool. Plus, there was a bitter rivalry between Jeannie and another evangelist, Haydee Benton, which ended in The Great Zucchini War – don’t ask; you just need to read about it. And that’s not the half of it.

The thought of it all is a little too much for Liam to take. As the house’s history unfolds, courtesy of the Forsythes’ younger daughter and unofficial historian, Jody, the details become even more intriguing. Meanwhile, Liam is trying desperately – and awkwardly – to win Laura’s affections. But the suave and handsome Bruno has other ideas.

As the summer moves on, all of the “young moderns” pair up. Everyone, that is, except Liam, who thinks he’s destined to a life of loneliness and mediocrity. But, true to his style, DeMarco has a surprise in store for our hero, too.

“Dark Harbor House” was inspired by a real inn on Islesboro, but the story is purely fiction. Drawing in bits of real and imagined history, DeMarco cooks up a delicious story that is touching, funny and hard to put down. It’s a little bizarre at times, but that’s part of the book’s charm, with one exception. Gabriella’s family story, which she reveals at the end, seemed jarring and out of place. Other than that, the book comes together nicely at the end. “Dark Harbor House,” with its wonderfully wacky cast, is a great place to spend a few hours.