“Sheepish: A Martha’s Vineyard Novel” is a story full of fun and romance (and an adorable sheep, Dandelion, and her canine best friend, Beau). T. Elizabeth Bell hits the mark again in this, her third novel, which is another ode to our Island.
The story begins not in the heat of summer, but on a miserable, cold, drizzly spring evening. We meet our protagonist, Aly, far from her San Francisco home, waiting for help in a Vineyard pasture. She has come to the Vineyard to visit her childhood friend Hannah, a caretaker for a stately home with decorative sheep, who unexpectedly had to race off-Island to take care of her mom just hours after Aly arrived. Bell’s dry wit, which punctuates all her novels, is immediately evident.
“The sheep bleated, low and sad. Beau gave a muffled woof and looked at Aly. He was eerily smart, as if he knew what he’d do if he had something more useful than paws. Should she Google wiki, How on how to deliver a lamb? Watch a video on YouTube? Aly blew out a puff of air, tucking a lock of wet auburn hair behind her ear as she gathered her courage. ‘OK. I’ll take a look. But,’ she warned, ‘I’m a web designer, not a vet.’”
Enter Whit to the rescue, helping in Dandelion’s birth. He is a fisherman, musician, and an all-around handy guy whose family history on the Vineyard dates back to the turn of the 18th century, when his “great-great-great-something-grandfather, Joseph Dias, arrived on Martha’s Vineyard from the Azores as a deckhand on a whaling ship.” Sparks fly between the two, on and off, complicated in part by their respective baggage. Whit was badly stung by his former girlfriend, and Aly is still tangentially tied to an annoyingly perfect gourmet chef in San Francisco who is obsessed with opening his new restaurant.
Bell portrays the outsider/insider tension with Aly and Whit, as well as within Aly herself, whose seemingly innocuous white lies about her background boomerang in numerous ways.
But they are not the only ones grappling with socioeconomic and class dissonance. Hannah, in addition to being a property manager, makes ends meet in the Vineyard as a house painter and carpenter of expensive vacation homes. When working on one, she meets Lawrence, a highly successful, internationally acclaimed fine art painter. Although love is in the air, she insists he is out of her league, wreaking havoc on the relationship.
When Aly tries to talk her out of keeping the relationship a secret, Hannah replies, “I don’t fit … I’m not being insecure. Just realistic. Once the summer season really gets going over the Fourth, it’s nonstop parties with the rich and famous. He won’t have time for me.”
Whit’s charismatic best friend Chas is the fifth of the group of friends we grow to love. He is exceptionally wealthy and generous of spirit and money. But he, too, compromises himself by masquerading Aly as his girlfriend, believing it will please his grandmother, to hide the fact that he is gay.
As a master storyteller, Bell keeps us turning the page as the narrative tangles and untangles, proving that opposites attract. Part of the draw for any Vineyarder is how Bell, a seasonal resident, gets the little details right about the Island that make us insiders smile, whether it’s the scene at the Ritz or the animal competitions at the Ag Fair. She also pays attention to the cultural and housing challenges for Brazilians working on the Island.
As in her earlier books, “Goats in the Time of Love” and “Counting Chickens,” animals are endearing characters. “I started with goats because I was amused that there was such a thing as goatscaping. Also, I love animals, so it was fun for me as a writer to figure out how to make an animal character as part of the story, mainly for the fun of it.”
Reflecting on “Sheepish,” Bell says, “I want readers to feel like they had a mini-vacation when they close the book; that it provides an escape from bad things that are happening in the world or your personal life. That it is a little dose of Vineyard bliss.”
And fortunately for us, that’s precisely what we get.
“Sheepish: A Martha’s Vineyard Novel” by T. Elizabeth Bell will be available soon at Edgartown Books and Bunch of Grapes Bookstore. Bell will be speaking on Tuesday, June 17, at 6 pm at the Katharine Cornell Theatre, sponsored by the Vineyard Haven Library. She will be signing books at Edgartown Books on July 10, appearing at the Edgartown Library Author’s Festival on July 17, and giving a book talk on August 9 at the West Tisbury Library. For more details, visit telizabethbell.com.
