THE NORTHPORT STORIES by Sheila Evans, introduction by Dan DeWeese
THE NORTHPORT STORIES by Sheila Evans, introduction by Dan DeWeese
Sheila Evans’ The Northport Stories offers a clear-eyed glimpse into the lives of characters drawn to, and shaped by, the rugged weather, geography, and social life of the coastal Pacific Northwest. The stories follow women and men as they encounter turning points in their marriages, relationships with adult children, and hopes for the future in the fictional coast town of Northport, Oregon. Past relationships haunt current crises, new identities are built in defiance of old patterns, and at all times, the larger world encroaches—or entices—in the form of tourists, development, and new ways of living. In skilled, wry sketches of adult life in the final decades of the twentieth century, Evans captures not only a way of living at a particular edge of the American map, but also deeper political and cultural conflicts that are a part of the history of America itself.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Series: Northwest Collection (#1)
ISBN: 9781955593014
Publication Date: November 1, 2022
Paperback, 5 x 8 in.
AUTHOR
SHEILA EVANS (1934-2022) taught high school English in California before forging a second career writing stories, novels, and a memoir. Soon after moving to Yachats, Oregon, Evans began to portray her new surroundings in her fiction, including the novel Maggie’s Rags and the story collection Northport: Stories of the Coast, the latter of which was a finalist for an Oregon Book Award.
PRAISE
“If Evans had lived closer to the centers of the publishing industry, she would have been lauded and well-known. But would she have had the chance to capture so clearly these unsparing stories of life on the edge?”
—Dan DeWeese, from the introduction
The Northport Stories: Life on the Edge
The coastal visions of Sheila Evans.
By Dan DeWeese
April 6, 2023