WILMINGTON — Bartleby's Books hosts Peggy Shinn, author of “Deluge,” on Saturday, Aug. 24, at 4 p.m.
“Deluge: Tropical Storm Irene, Vermont's Flash Floods and How One Small State Saved Itself” is the complete story of the floods, the rescue, and the recovery, as seen through the eyes of the people who lived through them.
Accounts are told by Wilmington's Lisa Sullivan, whose bookstore was flooded, and town clerk Susie Haughwout, who saved the town records; Tracy Payne, who lost her home in Jamaica - everything in it, and the land on which it sat; Geo Honigford in South Royalton, who lost his crops, but put his own mess on hold to help others in the town; the men who put Route 4 back together at breakneck speed; and the entire village of Pittsfield, completely isolated after the storm.
Sue Minter, Vermont's Irene Recovery Officer, said of the book, “Peggy Shinn presents a riveting account of Tropical Storm Irene's devastating toll on Vermont and the heroic response of its people. By weaving together vignettes of the disaster in communities across the state, she deftly portrays the Irene story: the pain of loss; the strength of community; and the fierce determination to rebuild.
“Shinn's telling of the tragic yet transformational story of Vermont's road to recovery presents a valuable lesson in what can happen when a fractured state becomes united by a common purpose,” Minter added.
Shinn is a freelance writer and editor who has written for Ski Racing Magazine, Skiing, and Ski magazines, Fodor's travel guidebooks, Vermont Life, and the U.S. Olympic Committee's website, www.TeamUSA.org, among others.
She lives in Rutland.