Ellen G. Lahr

When her husband’s parents died several years ago, Cynthia Elder’s family commenced the ritual of sorting through their belongings, which offered a unique family heirloom: letters, journals, documents, and ships’ logs chronicling the lives of Elder family ancestors from the mid-1800s through the Civil War. The discovery shone a light on several ordinary New England families whose coastal lives unfolded on and near the sea. As a writer, Elder set on the path of telling their stories.

“ The Journey Begins” and " The Drumbeat of War” comprise Elder’s two-book “ Tales of the Sea” series, which tells the true stories of the Fish and Jenkins families and their relatives, friends, neighbors, and the working people of West Barnstable, Mass. Spanning the years 1830 to 1870, th

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