The Last Skipjack - Softcover

Fox, Mary Hastings

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1936135760 ISBN 13: 9781936135769

Publisher: Golden Antelope Press, 2019

Synopsis

Mary Fox's The Last Skipjack brings to life a time not unlike our own, a time when ways of life were changing and those affected were "circling the wagons," trying to protect themselves from those changes. Specifically, in the 1960s in Cambridge, Maryland, small tenant farmers were losing ground to larger, more mechanized operations; the local factory and foundry were closing; skipjacks no longer dredged oyster beds, women were staying in school longer, and black youngsters were looking for civil rights. Some of Fox's characters are as confused about the causes and effects of such changes as the notorious Proud Boys are today. Others see clearly but have limited power to accelerate or to prevent the economic and social changes their neighbors fear--or crave. And a few--Celie, Gabe, Ava, Isaac--a few represent futures worth careful study.

The world of the novel is much like the one in which its author grew up. Life in Skipjack's Cambridge is
rich in tiny adventures, annoying siblings, mediocre cooks, careless drivers, swimmers who don't know how to swim. We view these mainly through the eyes of two young girls, black Ava Skipton and white Celie Mowbray. In the process we come to understand a lot about how individuals are shaped, and how they shape others. Skipjack's world is peopled by well-intentioned parents and wise mentors, community leaders and small-scale rebels, and a handful of memorably hateful characters too. To survive in Cambridge, Celie and Ava master the etiquettes involved in speaking to landlords or tenants, to stupid classmates and potential lovers, to helpless toddlers or potential employers. And they learn the other "etiquettes" expected for interracial communications. They learn how subtle insults work, how compassion and manipulation work, and how shame gets imposed and accepted.

Fox presents her characters objectively, honestly, without nostalgia, but also without exaggeration. When Celie and Ava meet as ten-year-olds, they bond quickly and deeply. They are as wise as ten-year-olds can be--seeing and judging according to the complicated standards they've already started to absorb. As they grow, they find themselves judging those standards, adjusting them, understanding and resisting some of the pressures they create. Celie, enduringly optimistic offspring of tenant farmers, becomes a community health nurse in the poorest black part of town. Ava, self-repressing daughter to a sociopathic mother, joins a Black Power movement, intending to use her rhetorical skills to create positive change.

Those who have studied the Civil Rights movement may remember Cambridge, Maryland, as the site of arson and riots in 1963 and again in 1967. Fox brings it memorably to life.

About this title

About the Author

Mary H. Fox studied literature and poetry before matriculating to undergraduate and doctoral degrees in psychology. An associate professor of psychology and education at the University of Maryland, she also had her own psychology practice for 25 years. She published a textbook and numerous journal articles on organizational psychology, spent years writing other people's stories. A master naturalist, most of her fiction is deeply rooted in nature. The Last Skipjack is her first novel.

Review

Join sassy Celie Mowbray and her spirited friend Ava Skipton as they overcome obstacles life has
handed them. Mary H. Fox has crafted a story about hard-work, fierce determination, struggle, love, and family bonds ...set against the backdrop of Maryland's Chesapeake."
--Paula Goddard -Writer and Freelance Journalist; Award Winning author of Money Minute:
Financial Food for Thought - Volume 1

With the fields and marshes of Maryland's lower Eastern Shore as a backdrop, Mary Fox brings us a story of two young women--one black, one white--caught up in the tides of social and economic change that threaten to tear apart their community and erode their friendship. But, as Marylanders know, it's in the brackish waters of the Chesapeake and its tidal rivers--the mixture of salt water and fresh--that sustenance is found.
--Michael Ratcliffe is a geographer and poet; his most recent book is Shards of Blue.

This is a rigorously researched story about daily life at a time when the nation was in upheaval. The
characters are vividly drawn and speak distinctly from that time and place - the reader is right there. A
really good read!
--Nanette Tamer, Professor of English Language and Literature, Stevenson University,

Skipjack takes place in a lovely, sleepy rural community - or so it seems. The currents of social change are about to challenge the beliefs and habits of generations, creating chaos. It's all brought to life by authentic, lively voices of two memorable teen-age friends.
--Cristen Jones, High School Teacher and Curriculum Specialist

Skipjack eloquently captures the lives of two young women, one black, one white, who are typical of the Maryland's Tidewater region in the 1960'S. Volatile events complicate and nearly destroy their lifelong friendship.
--Cindy Jones, retired Head of Materials Management, Howard County Library System,
Columbia, Maryland

Edition details

• Publisher: Golden Antelope Press
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1936135760
• ISBN 13: 9781936135769
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 330