The Siege of Salt Cove - Tapa dura

THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS has decided to replace Salt Cove's signature wooden bridge with a concrete monstrosity. The authorities are unreasoning and unyielding. The town decides on secession. Jessica Stoddard is a quirky seventy-two-year-old who is determined to keep a record of the event for posterity. She has a passion for the truth, but her account is not entirely reliable, because she also has a passion for the rebellion's ringleader who is...well, a much younger man. Toby Auberon is a lawyer and a drop-out. He has returned after years in Rio to perfect his mysterious invention in the solitude at the lighthouse. He is drawn, unwillingly, into the dispute when the bureaucracy switches tactics from bullying to armed occupation. Powerful, poignant, deeply funny, and enriched by the villagers' diverse voices, this is a contemporary farce about a town that dares to rebel against its own government, and to fight back when attacked.

Angry with the local government's meddling in local affairs, the small New England town of Salt Cove decides to secede from the United States, in a tale recounted by septuagenarian Jessica, who harbors a passion for a much younger man. 17,500 first printing.