WHISPERS AMONGST THE TREES

This anthology from the Sterncastle Writer’s Collective assembles quiet tales set along the sandy shores of Oregon’s coast.

In Linoa Linette’s story “Bigfoot Saves Jesse,” Boise widower Jesse has been exploring the coast in a van he’s living out of. Newport, Oregon, may provide an unexpected haven—a place where he can settle down for good. Other characters in this collection follow suit, either just discovering the Oregon shoreline or reminiscing about it. Claire (in Brenda Buchanan Saltzer’s “This Enchanted Place”) recalls all the memories tied to an oceanfront cottage she and her husband owned. The heartfelt stories move through an array of emotions, detailing broken marriages, lost loved ones, loneliness, and other harsh realities. Sometimes they’re more buoyant, such as Valerie Davisson’s closing “Whale of Christmas Crime,” a leisurely, engaging mystery about the disappearance of a Depoe Bay landmark statue. Other stories explore darker themes: In L.W. Smolen’s “A Mere Slip of a Girl,” a family’s last surviving daughter slowly dies of consumption in the 19th century. Savannah Gardiner’s standout “The Guest Book” best captures the anthology’s essence—a rental cottage’s titular registry becomes a chronicle of several regular visitors’ triumphs and tragedies over the years as they correspond with one another via their individual entries. The authors, some of whom have contributed more than one piece, showcase the stunning sights and sounds of the Oregon coast: “Increasingly heavier rocks are easily moved about the raging, churning water,” Jill Hagen writes in “Sacred Creek Song” as these smashing and colliding rocks form a “percussion song.” Other stories linger on roaring and crashing waves, the ever-present “shorebirds,” and Oregon’s myriad lighthouses and “sun-drenched” beaches.

This sublime collection beautifully depicts a beloved and indelible seaside.