Terry Tempest Williams
"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."
Susannah Cahalan
"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."
Jane Brox
"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."
Kirkus Reviews
2025-04-04
A village and a visitor evolve.
In 1995, nature writer Finch (1943-2024) left his home on Cape Cod and traveled to the Newfoundland village of Burnside, originally called Squid Tickle: a tickle being the narrow waterway separating the mainland from Squid Island. At the time, Finch was “heartsick and heartsore,” hoping to heal himself in a new place. That new place did indeed prove inspiring, both personally and creatively. In his final memoir, Finch records his visits to Burnside on and off for the next 20 years, alone and with Kathy, who became his wife. At first living in the house of friends, in 2001, Finch and Kathy bought a place of their own, setting roots in a community indelibly shaped by the sea, naturally, socially, and economically. Once sustained by cod fishing, the villagers were forced to turn to other ways of making a living when cod fishing collapsed. Not surprisingly, young people left for jobs elsewhere in Canada, decimating the population. Finch estimates there were 36 left in Burnside during his visits. From these often loquacious, usually elderly residents, Finch learned family stories and local history, which he relates as they were spun out in conversations. He conveys, as well, the easy intimacy among his “strong and often strong-willed” neighbors, who face “sickness, infirmity, death, loss, separation, dislocation, divorce, and loneliness” with equanimity. The whole history of Newfoundland, he writes, can be summed up as “ordinariness lived on the edge of terror and sublimity.” Finch felt a genuine attachment to the community and natural environs of Squid Tickle, although by 2015, he and Kathy knew it was time to move on. Burnside was aspiring to transform into a summer destination; Finch had transformed, too, from sadness to peace.
Warm, engaging recollections.
