The Walk Down Main Street
9781952143656
302 pages
Islandport Press
Overview
Originally published in 1960, The Walk Down Main Street explores what happens when a river town in Maine goes mad over its school basketball team. Ruth Moore covers basketball thrills, coming of age, and the reality of small town inhabitants along with her usual razor-sharp wit and honest depictions of daily life. Readers will be able to recognize their own neighbors, coaches, parents, and friends in this tale.Author Bio
Born and raised in the Maine fishing village of Gotts Island, Ruth Moore (1903–1989) emerged as one of the most important Maine authors of the twentieth century, best known for her authentic portrayals of Maine people and her evocative descriptions of the state. In her time, she was favorably compared to Faulkner and Steinbeck. She graduated from Albany State Teacher’s College and worked at a variety of jobs in New York, Washington, D.C., and California, including as personal secretary to Mary White Ovington, a founder of the NAACP, and as an editor at Reader’s Digest.
Her second novel, Spoonhandle soared to great success, spending fourteen weeks on The New York Times bestseller list and was made into the movie, Deep Waters. The success of Spoonhandle gave her the financial security to build a house in Bass Harbor and spend the rest of her life writing novels in her home state. Ultimately, she wrote fourteen novels. Moore and her partner, Eleanor Mayo, traveled extensively, but never again lived outside of Maine. Moore died in Bar Harbor in 1989, leaving a nearly unmatched literary legacy.
