Entrance Island a Novel

Islands hold a fascination for mankind whether it be treasure, a retreat from civilization as a place where we can discover ourselves or just plain romance. Our imaginations run wild. The island becomes a catalyst for projecting our lives into the unknown. What would it be like to live there we ask and then we go on to imagine a paradise. But in this fantasy we never completely divorce ourselves from the past. We see this in those desert-island questions – what would you bring? and what music would you take with you? – questions anticipating some loss that must be planned for. Yet to the mariner, an island is a latitude and longitude that acts like a stake in the ground, a placeholder, except that it arises from water. If the island has a lighthouse or light tower then it possess even greater solidity. When once sighted, the mariner, the voyager, or even the traveler can use chart, parallel rule, and a compass and binnacle to obtain bearings to predict exactly where he is and his progress through the water. Dead reckoning which cannot measure the currents and winds of fortune has been replaced by coast piloting. The island facilitates an entrance, another beginning, and new bearings for the future lives of those who have discovered its secrets.