Author Gigi Georges "Downeast"

Description

Join author Gigi Georges for an in-person author talk on Tuesday, Aug. 17 at 7 p.m. at the Jesup Memorial Library. Based on four years of rigorous and intimate reporting, “Downeast: Five Maine Girls and the Unseen Story of Rural America” follows five young women coming of age in Washington County.
 
The book follows Willow, Vivian, Mckenna, Audrey and Josie, teenage girls caught between tradition and transformation in Washington County. Willow lives in the shadow of an abusive, drug-addicted father and searches for stability through photography and love. Vivian, a gifted writer, feels stifled by her church and town, and struggles to break free without severing family ties. Mckenna is a softball pitching phenom whose passion is the lobster-fishing she learned at her father’s knee. Audrey is a beloved high school basketball star who earns a coveted college scholarship but questions her chosen path. Josie, a Yale-bound valedictorian, is determined to take the world by storm. The book’s narrative cuts against the typically celebrated stories of rural kids who must “escape” to succeed, leaving behind an impoverished and hopeless community. Rather than running to the door to “get out” of their hometowns, many who have attractive options to leave are opting instead to stay and while each girl goes on a journey of exploration each of them ultimately returns “home” to a rural place that they have always known, even if not technically their hometown.
 
“Booklist” writes “While Georges’s narrative focuses on these girls, the Downeast Maine setting actually takes center stage as a community with deep roots and rich history. Georges respects the region's families and way of life that instill generational grit and a self-sufficient work ethic, even as she explores tragedies and dark spots in its community soul…The young women [in “Downeast”] tangle with the tension of traditional values versus new learning, past versus future—and decide whether staying means settling.” And “Publishers Weekly” adds “A heartfelt portrait of five teenage girls growing up in Maine’s remote and economically depressed Washington County…Enriched by the author’s love of the area and deep admiration for her subjects, this is a worthy tribute to a group of stalwart young women committed to forging their own paths.”
 
Georges has had an extensive career in politics, public service, and academia. A former White House special assistant to the president and communications director for the New York City Department of Education, she has taught political science at Boston College and served as program director for the Harvard Kennedy School’s Innovation Strategies Initiative. She and her family live in New Hampshire and Downeast Maine.
 
Copies of “Downeast” will be on sale courtesy of co-sponsor Sherman’s Books. For more information please contact the Jesup at 207-288-4245.