The struggles, hardship, and joy of one woman's life on a Maine island are brought to life in this haunting and enduringly popular trilogy, the first three books of the Bennett's Island series. Elisabeth Ogilvie tells the story of Joanna Bennett and her colorful life on Bennett's Island with a sensitivity and truthfulness born of her own early years on isolated Criehaven, the real Bennett's Island.

Joanna discovers that her plans for her native island's future are straining her new marriage to Nils

As the battle-fit men of Bennett’s Island are called to fight in World War II, many of the other inhabitants head to the mainland as well. The small island community becomes a bit of a ghost town, though Joanna Bennett keeps the home fires burning. Rather than dwelling on her husband’s fate in the Pacific Theatre, she devotes her time to the raising of her young son, and keeping an eye on her wild and troubled brother. Even when she is forced into boarding an unwanted guest in her home, she plays her role of hostess flawlessly if coolly, but the guest soon proves his mettle, helping the Bennetts contend with both natural and human elements. When Joanna’s heart softens towards the kind and handsome young man, she finds herself fighting to be true to her absent husband, and facing down old ghosts from her past. As the final book of the Tide Trilogy, this wartime story transports readers to the beautiful and rugged Maine coast, where families must eke out their livelihoods from the tempestuous ocean but in return they’re afforded the daily splendor and simple pleasures of island life.

Philippa Marshall, a young war widow, travelled to a beautiful but remote island off the Maine coast to teach school. She was caught up in the smoldering conflicts of the island families. Though the fisherman of Bennett’s Island used modern power boats, they followed the sea as their forebears had- and lived by a tradition hard for an outsider to grasp. Philippa Marshall gallantly undertook this island venture to provide a livelihood for herself and her young son but she also hoped that here she might find friendship and affection to fill her empty heart.

Part of the second trilogy of life on Bennett's Island.

Book by Ogilvie, Elisabeth

The 7th volume in the Bennett's Island saga focuses on Joanna Bennett Sorensen's son Jamie, whose liason with a stranger strains the fabric of the close-knit community.

When a stranger buys property on Bennett's Island and drops anchor there in an expensive lobster boat, the locals are suspicious, in this eighth volume of the series. Day-to-day life goes on, but dark undercurrents begin to bubble in these chilly Maine waters.

Life on Bennett's Island is challenging yet comfortable for Joanna and Nils Sorensen as questions of family loyalty, ethics, and community accompany the arrival of two young men who hope to leave the past behind