Castine novelist pens tale of racial tensions in fictional Maine town

"When she thought of jumping the gun, she thought of the gun that killed their son. He removed his arm that had stayed around her until then. She was a little breathless as well. He chose not to look at her, but rather to look down at his hands, when he said, the 'Land of Cockaigne."

- BY RJ HELLER, DOWN EAST CONTRIBUTOR

In his latest novel, Land of Cockaigne, Jeffrey Lewis approaches the dynamics of locals and those from out of state in the imagined Maine community of Sneed's Harbor. Within this place comes the vicissitudes of race, class and culture amidst grief, a son's idyllic dream, and a father's apprehensive approach to fulfill that dream by remembering a fabled medieval tale of a sensual place of paradise on earth.

Lewis is a television writer, producer and novelist garnering two Emmy Awards, most notably for Hill Street Blues. His 2019 book, Bealport: A Novel of a Town, was a 2019 Maine Literary Award finalist. Lewis shares his time living in Los Angeles and Castine, Maine.

Sneed's Harbor: the dream of peace

Sneed's Harbor: the dream of peace amidst nature tucked within a place and community that is loving and supportive. That dream's future falls between the cracks in a moment of tragedy. "On the news programs, too, was the irony of it all, that the victim of the carjack gone tragically wrong was in the Bronx to keep kids out of jail."