Seven Days writers can’t possibly read, much less review, all the books that arrive in a steady stream by post, email and, in one memorable case, a plague of locusts. So this feature is our way of introducing you to a handful of books by Vermont authors. To do that, we contextualize each book just a little and quote a single representative sentence from, yes, page 32.
Turning the Soil: 250 Years of Vermont Agriculture
Roger Allbee, White River Press in cooperation with the Center for Research on Vermont, 167 pages. $21.
The Vermont legislature passed an act in 1835 to encourage the growing of silk.
Roger Allbee, son of Vermont hill farmers and a former state secretary of agriculture, has written a valuable primer on the ups and downs of farming in the Green Mountains over the centuries. Turns out the current decline of dairying is the 21st-century version of the involuntary changes forced again and again on Vermont’s small farmers by powerful external forces.
Potash, wheat, sheep, butter, milk — each of these made small farmers sturdily independent, if not rich. But their profits evaporated under the weight of competition, federal regulation, changing public tastes and more. This book is not light reading, and Allbee’s writing becomes dry when he delves into state and federal policy. Nevertheless, it is a good starting point for anyone who wants to put the current hand-wringing over the fate of Vermont farming in a historical context.
— Candace Page
Orient: Two Walks at the Edge of the Human
David Hinton, Shambhala, 104 pages. $18.95.
What is sight but occurrence gazing out at itself?
Walking through the desert, staring at sagebrush and stars and circling hawks overhead, David Hinton ponders existence, the cosmos and the nature of time. A collection of ruins spurs him to ponder “earth’s forgetfulness.” The sound of his heartbeat against the stillness and silence of the desert makes him think of dry grass in the wind.
Nature and the state of zen are at the forefront of Hinton’s latest collection of poems and prose. The Vermont poet and translator continues his study of Chinese philosophy, translating and interpolating the works of Taoist sages and Ch’an masters. His ruminations are set against a series of walks in the desert, seeking out thousand-year-old ruins while questioning what life is without stories and a communal past. In that space of lonely wilderness and ethereal silence, Hinton takes a philosophical journey, meditating on the concept of perception. A sort of poetic thesis of his 40 years immersed in Chinese philosophy, the book is a metaphysical travel guide to stepping outside Western beliefs.
— Chris Farnsworth
The Promise of Sunrise: Finding Solace in a Broken World
Ted Levin, Green Writers Press, 400 pages. $21.95.
A pissed-off woodpecker flies in and screams…
When COVID-19 crashed into his life in 2020, naturalist Ted Levin began taking a walk each day at sunrise through the woods and wetlands around his home in Thetford. His walks begat a daily blog and now a lyrical book that brings to life the world of efts and otters, warblers and wrens, chickadees and coyotes. Engaging natural history lessons — loon semen and mammoth bones make an appearance — weave through the daily entries, and slowly the reader also learns the story of the author’s life.
Levin’s writing can be extraordinarily vivid: Coyotes “hurl their voices at the crescent moon”; a bobcat has a face “like a soiled, fraying softball”; chickadees are “four maestros working on a score.” Writing such as this demands to be read as one reads poetry, in small sips, to be fully savored.
—C.P.
Remote: The Six
Eric Rickstad, Blackstone Publishing, 306 pages. $28.99.
“To me, the term ‘serial killer’ is outdated.”
The Tableau Killer has left a trail of carnage from coast to coast, captivating the country and flummoxing authorities. Why does he murder entire families? And why are his victims always posed in weird, meticulously arranged scenes?
Those questions haunt FBI special agent Lukas Stark in Remote: The Six, the first in a new series by Vermont author Eric Rickstad. Stumped at every turn, Stark reluctantly partners with Gilles Garnier, a loner who can see things that happen far away — remotely, get it? But when Garnier’s gift fails, Stark is left alone to confront an unstoppable killer and the conspiracy that surrounds him.
Fans of James Patterson’s Alex Cross series will find a lot to like in Rickstad’s white-knuckle thriller, whose clairvoyant elements are inspired by real-life CIA experiments. The best-selling author unspools a wire-taut mystery rippling with atmosphere and tension. And you won’t need to wait long for a sequel. Remote: The Five comes out in July.
— Dan Bolles
Kingdom Con: A (Mostly) Fictitious Tale Based on a True Story
Tracy Russell, Lift Life, 337 pages. $19.99
Jay Peak President Bill Stenger greets the buses as the students file out…
In April 2022, Bill Stenger, the Jay Peak developer who promised to bring prosperity back to the economically depressed Northeast Kingdom, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his involvement in the largest fraud in Vermont history. The scheme, which hoovered up millions in investors’ dollars and left behind a huge vacant lot in downtown Newport nicknamed “the Hole,” is the visual metaphor at the center of Kingdom Con: A (Mostly) Fictitious Tale Based on a True Story, by Newport native Tracy Russell.
Kingdom Con tells the story of Gina and Trina, childhood friends who struggle to carve out lives in their blue-collar community. The author, a retired nurse turned tattoo artist, clearly was inspired to heal her hometown’s still-gaping wound. Ostensibly a parody, Kingdom Con would have benefited from a seasoned editor. It takes too long to strike its intended targets and ultimately fails to deliver. Too bad, because that boil deserves to be lanced.
— Ken Picard
This article appears in Apr 16-22, 2025.
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