True North: Finding the Essence of Aroostook

Northern Maine retains qualities of life that many people long for in today’s world. The pace can be slower, nature is close, the beauty is breathtaking, and the people are authentic. Kathryn Olmstead, a transplant from Michigan more than forty decades ago, considers it a place mysterious to those who have not been there and unforgettable to those who have. Her collection of essays gleaned from her years writing for Echoes magazine and the Bangor Daily News share her introductions to rural life and wildlife in an attempt to reveal the universal in the particular-the night sky and ice-out, the people and their cultural roots, and the intimacy with nature in every season. The title True North describes the quality of life portrayed in Olmstead’s essays-an orienting point, internal and geographic, that keeps a person on track in a world sometimes at odds with nature and with basic human goodness. Combined they affirm that traditional values are still alive in places like Aroostook County, Maine.