Author Talk: William Carpenter "Silence" with Carl Little

Description

Join author William (Bill) Carpenter for the launch of his novel “Silence” with the Jesup Memorial Library on Friday, July 9 at 7 p.m. Carpenter, a professor emeritus at College of the Atlantic, will be in conversation with author Carl Little.
 
In “Silence” Carpenter examines the bitter legacy of 9/11 and terrorism in this novel that focuses on the nature of conflict and loss. “Silence” tells the story of Nick Colonna, a young veteran returning from Iraq to his hometown on the coast of Maine after an IED explosion killed the other members of his vehicle crew and left him deaf. Struggling with trauma, in a half-world between sanity and madness, Nick finds solace in memories of better times on nearby Amber Island: a private sanctuary owned by a Boston family and its illustrious patriarch, Marston Fletcher. The family is set on developing the island, much to the despair of the youngest Fletcher daughter: Julia, who stumbles upon Nick as he settles into becoming a worker on the island. As Nick battles his inner demons, Julia fights her family and Amber Island faces demolition. Carpenter raises many questions about what survives carnage and loss, and where in a divided and chaotic world is there room for peace and silence.
 
Major Adam Cote, USA (Ret.) Iraq War veteran, writes “As a veteran of the war in Iraq, I found myself back there again— and the feelings of wishing I wasn’t there and dreaming of how life will be so improved when I got back home…[Carpenter] walks us hand in hand with the characters as they try to let go of their hopes and dreams while moving through the grief, loss, disruption and chaos that is left when their reality suddenly changes… I highly recommend this book. It is incredibly well written and thought provoking.” Ron Currie, Jr., author of “God is Dead,” adds “This is a story that demonstrates there's no loss that can't be redeemed by the sacred, no wound that can't be healed, however incompletely, by reacquainting ourselves with that which is simple and pure.”


Carpenter grew up in Waterville, graduated from Dartmouth and got a PhD at the University of Minnesota. He was Assistant Professor of English & Humanities, and the Inland Steel Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Chicago until 1972, when he saw the startup announcement from College of the Atlantic and decided to change his life. He subsequently became the college’s first faculty member and taught there for more than 40 years. He is the recipient of the Pablo Neruda award, the Black Warrior award, and the AWP award in poetry. His previous novels are “A Keeper of Sheep,” set on Cape Cod in the 1980s, and “The Wooden Nickel,” set in a Maine Coast lobstering community. He and the writer Donna Gold live in an old coastal inn and spend summers exploring Maine islands in their family sloop, Northern Light.
 
Little is the author of more than a dozen art books. He has also published articles and reviews of art in numerous magazine. He is a regular contributor to Maine Boats, Working Waterfront, Art New England and Hyperallergic. Little works as the Communications Manager at the Maine Community Foundation and lives on MDI.
 
Copies of “Silence” will be on sale courtesy of co-sponsor Sherman’s Books at any of their locations, online at shermans.com or by calling their Bar Harbor store at 207-288-3161. Registration is required to receive the Zoom link for this program. To register fill out the form at jesuplibrary.org/events/carpenter or email kchagnon@jesuplibrary.org.