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About the Book

Northeaster: A Story of Courage and Survival in the Blizzard of 1952 by Cathie Pelletier tells the gripping story of an epic Maine snowstorm that tested the very limits of human endurance.

For many, the past few years have been defined by climate disaster. Stories about once-in-a-lifetime hurricanes, floods, fires, droughts and even snowstorms are now commonplace. But dramatic weather events are not new and Northeaster, Cathie Pelletier’s breathtaking account of the 1952 snowstorm that blanketed New England, offers a valuable reminder about nature’s capacity for destruction as well as insight into the human instinct for preservation.

Northeaster weaves together a rich cast of characters whose lives were uprooted and endangered by the storm. Housewives and lobstermen, loggers and soldiers were all trapped as snow piled in drifts twenty feet high. The storm smothered hundreds of travelers in their cars, covered entire towns, and broke ships in half. In the midst of the blizzard’s chaos, there were remarkable acts of heroism and courageous generosities. Doctors braved the storm to help deliver babies. Ordinary people kept their wits while buried in their cars, and others made their way out of forests to find kind-hearted strangers willing to take them in.

It’s likely that none of us know how we would handle a confrontation with a blizzard or other natural disaster. But Northeaster shows that we have it inside to fight for survival in some of the harshest conditions that nature has to offer.

About The Author:

Cathie Pelletier was born and raised on the banks of the St. John River, at the end of the road in Northern Maine. She is the author of twelve novels, including The Funeral Makers (a New York Times Notable Book), The Weight of Winter (winner of the New England Book Award) and Running the Bulls (winner of the Paterson Prize for Fiction). As K. C. McKinnon, she has written two novels, both of which became television films. After years of living in Nashville, Tennessee Toronto, Canada and Eastman, Quebec, she has returned to Allagash, Maine and the family homestead where she was born.

Praise for Northeaster:

“This vividly told tale should attract history buffs and anyone who loves a good story.” – Library Journal

“In this excellent example of narrative nonfiction, Pelletier follows several families, many of whom experienced tragedy or hardship during the storm. Pelletier also delves into the physical destruction that the storm left in its wake and the science of blizzards. This book will appeal to readers of narrative nonfiction and climate nonfiction in particular.” – Booklist

“If there’s a snowier book than Northeaster, I don’t know it. With its rich cast of fishermen, woodsmen, millworkers and plain old small-town Mainers, Cathie Pelletier’s dramatic re-creation of the great blizzard of ‘52 isn’t simply a fast-paced disaster narrative about the workings of fate, but a paean to a long-lost way of life.” – Stewart O’Nan, author of The Circus Fire

Praise for Cathie Pelletier:

“Cathie Pelletier generates the sort of excitement that only writers working at the very top of their form can provide.” —Stephen King

“A bookstore will always be a better place for me when there’s a new novel there by Cathie Pelletier.” —Chris Bohjalian, author of Midwives

“Pelletier accomplishes what every great novelist should.” —Fannie Flagg

“I compare it (The Funeral Makers) to Spoon River Anthology, which I consider the great American novel.” —Kurt Vonnegut

“One of our finest writers…Nobody walks the knife-edge of hilarity and heartbreak more confidently than Pelletier.” —Richard Russo, author of Empire Falls

“A master juggler of literary tears and laughter. Cathie Pelletier is a national treasure.” —Wally Lamb, author of She’s Come Undone

“A morbidly funny tale.” – People

“Very talented, very true, very terrible, and very funny.” – Mary McCarthy, author of The Group

“The Funeral Makers completely satisfies…a clear-eyed yet passionate examination of life in an isolated small town, where the road ends.” – Newsday

“A generous and genuine entertainment…funny and wrenching.” – The New Yorker

“Cathie Pelletier is absolutely, inherently funny, yet she can walk the tightrope between humor and grief without once losing her balance.” – The Los Angeles Times

“An ambitious, fearless novelist. The Funeral Makers established Cathie Pelletier as one of the funniest novelists at work in this country today, but now she has clearly emerged as one of the very best.” – The Washington Post

“The most touching, funny and dryly astute characters to come along since the irresistible eccentrics of Eudora Welty…Pelletier is a writer of great craft.” – The Boston Globe

“A fresh intelligent voice describing a hidden pocket of life that few people see…humorous and poignant…Pelletier’s characters have universal appeal.” – Boston Sunday Herald

“A bitingly funny and highly original novelist.” – Vogue

“Cathie Pelletier’s got the formula right, combining warmth, humor and insight in roughly equal proportions.” – Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Pelletier has demonstrated that she’s a master of the art.” – Chicago Tribune

“Masterful work…subversive, humorous, and heartbreaking.” – Publishers Weekly