Volume 3

by  Kim Ridenour Raikes

 

The Quadrant: Landfall is the last in a 3-volume narrative journey set in 19th century New England and on the high seas. In this continuation of Vol. I (At the Mother of Waters) and Vol. II (At the Crossroads of Anjier), Maine native Capt. Ben Melchett and Welsh Romany seaman James Robertson face the crisis of separation on the Pacific. Journeying the routes of each other’s pasts becomes the means by which they discover the path to their common landfall. Survival at sea in an open boat and in the notorious backwater dens of Boston brings the two mariners fully into each other’s worlds, but at a price: though uniting them, their landfall ultimately shatters their communities and kin.

About the Author

Kim Ridenour Raikes is a member of the faculty of Maine Maritime Academy in Castine, where she teaches writing and humanities. An important aspect of her teaching career, which began 37 years ago in Marjoyoun, Lebanon, is global education, and she has led numerous study abroad programs for American students in Ireland, Great Britain, and India. As an ordained minister and student of world religious traditions, she has long incorporated spiritual themes in her writing and academic researches.
Beginning in Beirut in 1978 and continuing over the course of the next 30 years, Raikes worked on this novel daily, drawing not only from primary researches into historical records and sailing ship logs, but also from her personal experience of the working waterfront. Though these outer resources were important shaping influences, the key inspiration for this story came in the form of the three narrative voices which emerged from within, and the historical places which took shape though unseen.

$14.95
ISBN 978-1-938883-82-8