AN ANSWER IN THE TIDE, by Elisabeth Ogilvie, Down East Books, 278 pages, $12.95.

Anyone who has spent time along the Maine coast knows of its unique nature. There’s nothing quite like it, and although other shores abound worldwide, life along the rocky crags of this state — particularly our Down East region — is very special indeed.

No one tells the story of Maine seacoast life better than author Elisabeth Ogilvie.

Her latest novel, “An Answer in the Tide,” does nothing to diminish a lofty reputation of superb chronicling of local color and the lives and times of those who make their living from the bounties of the sea.

Ogilive, the author of 27 novels and 11 children’s books, has joined forces with Down East Books of Camden to make her latest effort available in mass-market quantity. Nothing could make her readers happier.

For more than 40 years, she has captured the imaginations of the reading public with tales of the Bennett Island families.

“An Answer in the Tide” follows the fortunes of the third generation of Bennett Islanders. The Sorensens, a proud, self-sufficient family, conduct their lives in the ritualistic tradition of a people long ago steeped in the island virtues of hard work, family loyalty, and unwritten mores that abound from one end of their isolated community to the other.

When their handsome son, Jamie — a 25-year-old, strong-willed but romantically inexperienced fisherman — embarks on two dubious relationships, the community is shaken. Joanna and Nils Sorensen watch nervously as their placid lives are disrupted by the jealousies which result from their son’s poor choices in his affairs of the heart.

Jamie struggles with what he knows to be right and his own built-in value structure. This struggle eventually involves nearly all members of the community, and author Ogilvie pits friend against friend as the island itself attempts to burn off its own fog of discontent to rectify its moral battles, trying to let the sunshine of harmony return again to Bennett Island.

But it is not the morality issue of Jamie’s flings which will draw readers to this story. It is the nature of the community. Struggling to ward off the dangers of poor judgment and amorality that have been washed from the mainland to the once-pure shores of their beloved island, all characters seemingly must become introspective in their own handling of the evident changes in the world around them.

Ogilvie becomes a philosopher of sorts, and readers will delight in how easily they become wrapped up in the family battles, all the while testing their own value systems as well.

“An Answer in the Tide” will evoke many emotions — not the least of which is enjoyment.

Ron Brown is a free-lance writer who resides in Bangor.