Elisabeth Ogilvie Books In Order

Publication Order of Bennett's Island Books

Publication Order of Cass Phillips Books

Publication Order of Jennie Trilogy Books

Publication Order of Mirabelle Taggart Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Wildfire Books

Elisabeth Ogilvie
Elizabeth Ogilvie was an American novelist that is best known for writing this series of novels set on some islands just off the coast of Maine, where she lived as an adult.

She was born May 20, 1917 in Boston to Maude and Frank Ogilvie, and she had three older brothers. While growing up she spent summers on the Maine island of Criehaven. She grew up in Wollaston and Dorchester, and graduated in 1934 from North Quincy High School. Elisabeth didn’t earn her college degree, but did take a writing course at Harvard.

She died at the age of 89 of a stroke on September 9, 2006 in Cushing, Maine.

“High Tide at Noon” is the first novel in the “Tide Trilogy” and was released in 1944. Joanna Bennett (vivacious and young) desperately wishes to be the captain of a lobster boat of her very own, however despite being the favored daughter of the founding family of Bennett’s Island, she is still merely a girl in the community’s eyes, and a girl living off of the coast of Maine during the early 20th century is expected to just mind the kitchen, but not tend to pot buoys.

As she quietly struggles to find a place of her own on the insular Bennett’s Island, one where she could allow for her opinionated and bold nature shine through without ever shaming her family, she instead finds love when she meets this witty stranger with his sparkling smile right off of the mailboat. A whirlwind courtship and wedding later, and she finds she’s the master of her own house, and every single aspect of her beloved island appears to reflect her joy. However once the luster starts wearing off and her husband’s own dark secrets slowly start revealing themselves, she has to draw upon her resilience, determination, and resourcefulness in order to keep her family together.

An evocative coming of age tale that transports its readers to the rugged and beautiful Maine coast, where families must eke out livelihoods from the tempestuous sea however in return they are afforded the simple pleasures and daily splendor of island life.

“The Dawning of the Day” is the first novel in the “Lover’s Trilogy” and was released in 1954. A young war widow, named Philippa Marshall, travelled to this gorgeous yet remote island just off the coast in order to be a teacher at the school. She winds up getting caught up in the smoldering conflicts of the island families.

Even though the fisherman of Bennett’s Island used modern power boats, they followed the sea like their forebears had, and lived by this tradition tough for any outsider to even grasp. Philippa Marshall gallantly undertook her island venture in order to provide a livelihood for herself and her young son however she also hoped that here she may be able to find affection and friendship in order to fill this empty heart.

“Where the Lost Aprils Are” is a stand alone novel that was released in 1975. Miriam Gould (age 27) leads a good life that numerous people would envy. She’s a successful book editor for young people at this New York publisher. She’s got her own apartment with a wood burning fireplace. She’s got the delightful Mike Andric eager to marry her.

Not so enviable is the overwhelming sense of loneliness and loss that she carries along with her. Since every year while April gets closer, she’s subject increasingly to exhausting valleys of depression.

She grew up in Connecticut with her mom, who told her matter-of-factly when she was just 12 that she’d never married her dad and that he was killed in the war. With such a brief recital, her mom considers the matter closed. Miriam just knows that the pair grew up together in this small town in Maine. Throughout her adolescence she fixes on a hero after another and dreams her dad had to have looked just like them.

Her mom dies when Miriam is just 21 in a bus accident. Much later, the young woman gathers the courage to go through her mom’s few personal possessions. This includes her photo albums, which Miriam had gone through as a child. There’s also some jewelry. Miriam goes through them, and finds that the jewelry box has a false bottom to it. There’s 3 long letters in there, the final one written to her mom just before she died. All signed “Fern”. A picture in an album shows a kid named Fern in a clown suit.

It leads her to Parmenter, Maine. She hopes to find her mom’s lost Aprils while editing this book away from her office. She finds a good deal more here, including mayhem and arson.

“Jennie About to Be” is the first novel in the “Jennie Trilogy” and was released in 1984. In 1809, marriage was the best thing that a healthy, spirited, and brilliant girl could possibly hope for, particularly if she was an orphan without any sort of fortune. Jennie Hawthorne has just been hustled to London by her well meaning aunt in order to secure exactly this sort of marriage, even though Jennie despises the prospective wife parade and is eager for her childhood home located near the North Sea.

All of this changes once she falls for Nigel Gilchrist (the dashing soldier), and she marries him after this whirlwind romance. Nigel wastes zero time in whisking his bride back to the Scottish Highlands where he’ll serve as the manager to the family estate.

In Scotland, she is faced with the realities of the Highland Clearances: tenant cottagers forcibly being evicted out of their homes by lairds making way for grazing land and sheep. Once Jennie hears that both Nigel and his brothers are complicit in these clearances, she finds that her heart is warring with her conscience.

She defies her husband and his brother, doing what she is able to in order to help out the cottagers, and helping out Alick Gilchrist resist such clearances. However their efforts bring disaster: a tragic accident which makes Alick a hunted fugitive, and Jennie is compelled by circumstance to throw in her lot with his while they face such an arduous journey across mountains in order to ultimately escape from the strife ridden Highlands.