The Mount Desert Island Historical Society book club met on Monday, October 16, 2023, to discuss "Windswept" by Mary Ellen Chase.

Born in Blue Hill in 1887, Chase was the author of many works of fiction, non-fiction, essays, and even two college textbooks about writing. She was fascinated by the use of language and was often noted to be an energetic and captivating speaker. Chase was proud of her childhood in Maine, and often took inspiration from her experiences and the people she knew in developing her works of fiction. "Windswept" was her best-selling book, a work of fiction that spans three generations, exploring their connections to each other through the remote property at Windswept.

"Windswept" is set against a backdrop of change and social upheaval. Chase moves readers from the idyllic heyday of Bar Harbor's Gilded Age and her characters' rejection of this opulent lifestyle, through tensions brought about by immigration, eventually ending with America's involvement in two world wars.

Raney Bench shares a short presentation on Mary Ellen Chase's life, career, and connections to Downeast Maine, as well as the shifting political and economic realities that shaped the events and people in her novel.