The Island Atlas
Saltstone is small enough for everyone to know your business and old enough to have customs nobody remembers starting. This is where Cora keeps the odd ones.
A map for the curious
The lighthouse gets you ashore. After that, ask a local—and allow time for the story that comes with the directions.
The Town Landing
The Saltstone Sovereign ties up when the weather permits. Someone will have noticed your luggage before you reach the end of the pier.
Vance Salvage
Maeve's shelves hold shipwreck odds and ends, old tools, and a ring of keys nobody thought to label.
The Brass Pint
The woodstove is warm. Every regular has a different version of last night's events.
Dead Man's Shoal
When the bell sounds through the white wall, the fishermen listen. Even the ones who say they don't believe the old stories.
Things the locals insist on
Useful advice, harmless nonsense, or a very polite way to tell you to mind your own business? Saltstone has not decided.
The harbor: No whistling in the pilothouse. It is said to call up wind from Dead Man's Shoal. The old remedy is a copper penny over the wake. Nobody will say whether it works.
The old houses: Salt in the left pocket. Before entering an empty house, some islanders tuck a pinch of coarse sea salt into their coat.
The shoal: Listen for the bell. If the Shoal Bell sounds when the harbor is flat calm, a black ribbon goes on the dock piling.
The boats: Turn the hatch cover over. An upside-down hatch cover is an invitation to bad luck.
The attic: A compass kept face-down. A compass from a lost ship is said to point back toward the shoal.
The first catch: Return the first scallop. The first scallop of the season belongs to the sea.
An excuse to gather
July · The Saltstone Fog Fair Antique tools, fiddle music, and a pie contest people take altogether too seriously.
December · The Winter Mummers' Crossing Islanders arrive at your door in seaweed, burlap, and ribbons. Offering cake is advisable.
March · The Mud-Season Swap The Grange Hall fills with attic finds, estate tools, and people pretending they came only to look.