Leaving Rock Harbor

by: Rebecca Chace

Published by: Scribner

Reviewed by Beth Cummings

This newest novel by Rebecca Chace is an interesting foray into the world of a New England mill town, Rock Harbor, Massachusetts, during the boom days leading up to World War I and on through the unionizing difficulties leading up to the depression in 1934. The main character, Frances Ross (Frankie) is the daughter of a master engraver for fabric patterns. When she and her parents leave Poughkeepsie, NY to start a new life in Rock Harbor she makes friends with two young men at her school. One, Joe Barros, works part time at the mill and is the son of Portuguese immigrants. The other, Winslow Curtis, is the son of the mill owner and State Senator. The boys themselves were friend before meeting Frankie, but their friendship and hers is fraught with social and economic disparities. Frankie falls right into the middle of these issues.

While the book is largely a coming of age in that time period novel, it also gives a great deal of insight into the lives of mill workers and their families. Chace also brings to light the struggles involved with union start-up in the textile industry. Each of the young people represent a faction in that struggle: unskilled labor, skilled craftsmen and owner/management. The gains and losses among those groups in the name of progress is a key element to the plot.

Rebecca Chace is an excellent writer and her novel is well constructed with believable characters well drawn. The book has several topics that would be of interest to book groups. I would recommend it especially to readers of women's fiction who are partial to historical context.