IN OTHER WORDS, LEADERSHIP

How an unusual correspondence buoyed two Maine women through the uncertainty of the first several months of the Covid-19 pandemic.

At first glance, the women couldn’t have been much more different. Ashirah Knapp was a homesteader living off the grid in a tiny town situated literally at the end of the road; Janet Mills was in the middle of her first term as Maine’s first woman governor. But the women share a deep humanism, and the connection New Hampshire–based journalist Mullen teases out of the former’s letters and the latter’s journal entries and public addresses provides a neat structure for the narrative. Observing the angry resistance to the Democratic governor’s pandemic restrictions, starting in May 2020, Knapp took it upon herself to write weekly letters to Mills to “keep reminding you of the many people who agree with the path you are choosing for our state.” For the next year, Knapp never wavered, even as Mills’ emergency orders hamstrung her family’s small business. It was largely a one-sided correspondence, but Mills took heart from Knapp’s missives, even referencing them in her 2021 annual address to the state legislature. While Knapp wrote to Mills, the latter kept a daily journal, recording her sorrow over the pandemic’s rampage, her distress at the difficulty of managing it, and the relief she found in Maine’s outdoors and her circle of (safely distanced) friends. Mullen nods at the confusion some of Mills’ policies promulgated, but the account is unabashedly admiring. Like-minded Mainers will find it a heartwarming record; those further flung will recognize much while encountering uniquely Maine variations, not least of which is the state’s unlikely love affair with its pandemic-era Maine CDC director, Dr. Nirav Shah. The author quotes her subjects and other sources liberally and diligently, but too often the inclusion of unremarkable text slows readers' passage. Still, her earnest approach will keep readers engaged.

Readers will find both governor and homesteader sturdy pandemic companions.