Ask a Bookseller: 'Vigil Harbor'

Alden Graves of Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vt., recommends "Vigil Harbor," a new novel by National Book Award winner Julia Glass.The environment and climate change are key elements of this novel set in the near-future. Vigil Harbor is a former working-class fishing village on the Massachusetts coast that has been "transformed by the magic wand of prosperity into an upscale haven for the affluent," says Graves. "It's the kind of place many people wish they could call home — and might also stand as an example of being careful what you wish for." High-profile divorces, strangers who arrive in town, and a series of eco-terrorism bombings across New England all rock this quiet community, building to what Graves calls an "energetic finale."