Overview

Robert Finch arrived in Newfoundland in the summer of 1995 heartsick, directionless, his old life on Cape Cod in tatters. Burnside, located in Newfoundland’s rugged northeast, seemed like a good place to heal. The coastal village was home to just fifty year-round residents, and accessible only by a hundred-mile ferry crossing. Finch was drawn in by the landscape of low ridges and archipelagos of rocky islands, but he returned to Burnside for its strong sense of community, and the possibility that it might provide a new pattern for his ow life. Eventually Finch became a summer resident, buying a house, playing organ for the church, and fishing the area’s waters. Offering a portrait of the Newfoundland character and culture, Summers in Squid Tickle explores how three generations of the village have grappled with the changes of the past century—from the rise and collapse of commercial cod fishing, and the migration of young people away from the outport, to the distant hope for tourism and new industries to sustain a disappearing way of life. With characteristically elegant prose and deep sensitivity, Finch introduces us to Squid Tickle’s inhabitants—a collection of hardy fishermen, vigorous retirees, and close neighbors, as well as the woman who would become his wife. Even as the fish in Squid Tickle’s waters vanish, Finch sketches the enduring relationship of a village with the sea—for food, work, leisure, and a rich community life—in the midst of an unforgiving but stunning landscape. Summers in Squid Tickle speaks to the desire we all have in our era to seek quiet, and to reevaluate our connection to each other and the natural world.  

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9781324051312

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Reviews

""Robert Finch has written not just a tenderness to a place he loved in Summers in Squid Tickle, but offers us, once again, another glimpse into his elegant soul on the page and in the world. This is his legacy of love. And it is ongoing. My deepest bows to his sparkling intelligence, wit, and grace as a writer and friend."" -- Terry Tempest Williams, author of Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place ""Summers in Squid Tickle is astonishing. Robert Finch’s deeply moving meditation is utterly transporting—as alive as the rugged landscape that Robert Finch so vividly describes. I was completely immersed in Squid Tickle. This is a tour de force, a brilliant coda to a remarkable career, and one of the best travel books I’ve ever read."" -- Susannah Cahalan, New York Times best-selling author of Brain on Fire and The Great Pretender ""Robert Finch captures, with clarity and affection, the daily rituals and enduring tenacity of his Newfoundland neighbors. [In stories] . . . shaped by the rigors of the land and sea—‘on the edge of terror and sublimity’—Summers in Squid Tickle reminds us of all that is essential about life’s journey. This is a book resonant with beauty and meaning."" -- Jane Brox, author of Clearing Land: Legacies of the American Farm

Author Information

Robert Finch was an award-winning nature writer, radio journalist, and author of several books about Newfoundland and Cape Cod, including The Outer Beach. He lived on Cape Cod for over fifty years, and spent two decades of summers in Squid Tickle. He died in 2024.

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