Swapping stories with an old salt
The setup sounds more like the plot for a Hollywood film than a true story. A salty old fisherman by chance meets the government regulator threatening his livelihood in a coffee shop, and he recounts engaging tales from a lifetime spent working off Cape Cod, Mass.
“Tiggie: The Lure and Lore of Commercial Fishing in New England,” (IUniverse Star, $22.95 paperback, $6 e-book, www.amazon.com) by Charles “Tiggie” Peluso and Sandy Macfarlane, is that non-fiction account.
Tiggie was a waterman with an eighth-grade education who sought to preserve in words the history of his trade. Macfarlane, a retired marine biologist and conservation officer, serves as the conduit. The book is structured such that the stories told by Tiggie are juxtaposed with Macfarlane’s account of getting to know the man inside the tight circle of New England commercial fishing. The result is an insightful look into a world most only see from afar.
April 2013 issue
