Once Upon An Island

Once upon an Island

Review "A beautifully recounted, pleasing-to-the-reader's-eye life history of Peddocks Island (Boston Harbor) in the 20th century, captured for all time." -- The Hull Times"Once Upon an Island paints an absorbing portrait of island living evoking nostalgia, and combines prose and exquisite turn-of-the-century photography. -- Senator John Kerry, D-Massachusetts"The book has attracted readers across the country with its folklore-like narrative and more than 100 photographs." -- The Boston Globe This warm and charming memoir of the Boston Harbor Islands, is enhanced by hundreds of photographs dating back to the turn of the twentieth century, they bring to life a world gone by. From Publishers Weekly This chronicle of a woman's life on a small island in Boston Harbor encompasses both typical family stories and unusual tales about living in a remote location situated across the bay from a booming metropolis. Silvia's father, an Army tailor, arrived on Peddock's Island with the military in 1904, and his family continued to live there for nearly 100 years. The author herself was born on the island in 1917. (She recently died, and her daughter finished this book.) Silvia's memoir presents a conventional story of growing up in a military atmosphere-going to parades on summer Sunday afternoons, playing inter-post baseball games, attending school bundled in long underwear and starched petticoats in the winter. The one exceptional aspect of her narrative is the island's situation as an insular community: Silvia and her schoolmates had to take a boat to school, for instance, and could get ice cream only when a 100-pound chunk of ice was ferried over to keep the ice chests cool. Although it's a fairly straightforward and dry account of life on an Army post, Silvia's book gives a fine snapshot of a bygone era. Copyright