the legend of uncle Zeke

Description

In small towns and harbors, in kitchens heavy with coffee and ghosts, ordinary lives carry the weight of something sacred.

A mechanic’s radio hums with the last true wisdom of a New England man.
A lone heron stands guard over the quiet wreckage of memory.
A woman wakes to the first day of forever, greeted not by angels, but by the smell of chipped beef and the sound of her father’s voice.

These are stories of people who mend what can’t be fixed, love what’s already gone, and find grace in the static between stations. Told with humor, reverence, and the ache of nostalgia, The Wisdom of Uncle Zeke and Other Tales of a Crusty New Englander reminds us that the most profound lessons often come disguised as ordinary days.

Drawn from a lifetime of listening, remembering, and retelling, this collection gathers the author’s short stories—true and imagined alike—to illuminate the lives of those he has known and loved. From the backroads of Skowhegan, Maine, to the mill towns of Nashua, New Hampshire, to the wind-bitten edge of Cape Cod, these tales taste of Rice’s Red Hot dogs and the perfect lobster roll from the stand by the Bourne Bridge. The conversations drift from the nearest Dunkie’s to the spring ice-out at Allagash Lake, stitched together with that familiar New England stoicism—the quiet kind that carries both humor and truth in equal measure.