Lisa Duffy Lisa M. Duffy, Simon & Schuster, Danielle Burby, Nelson Literary Agency Does THE SALT HOUSE by Lisa Duffy Infringe the Copyright of THE FISHER KING by Hayley Kelsey? West Wareham Massachusetts
Does THE SALT HOUSE by Lisa Duffy Infringe the Copyright of THE FISHER KING by Hayley Kelsey? Read on to Decide for Yourself (see more at https://medium.com/@hayleykelseyauthor)
History:
On May 1, 2013, Simon & Schuster president Jonathan Karp accepted by Facebook “friend” request. I submitted a query letter and synopsis of my novel via Facebook.
On September 23, 2013 (January 19, 2014 follow-up), I submitted a query letter, synopsis, and first 50 pages of my novel to agent Danielle Burby at Nelson Literary Agency, who represents alleged infringer Lisa Duffy. In January 2015, Burby joined the agency.
On September 23, 2013, I queried Dunow, Carlson & Lerner, where Burby interned. On November 15, 2013, I queried Writer’s House, where Burby interned. On December 21, 2013, I queried Faye Bender Literary Agency, where Burby interned. On September 15, 2014, I mailed a copy of my novel to author Anne Tyler c/o her agent Jesseca Salky at Hannigan, Salky, Getzler. In 2013, Burby joined the agency.
On June 13, 2017, The Salt House was published by Simon & Schuster.
Does THE SALT HOUSE Have Striking and Substantial Similarities to THE FISHER KING?
Does THE SALT HOUSE Have Plot and Theme Similarities to THE FISHER KING?
There are the eight main elements that comprise the “heart” on which FISHER turns, and SALT takes five of them:
1. Business—Family patriarch is successful lobsterman.
2. Work—The importance of meaningful physical labor to identity & sense of purpose.
3. Setting—The importance of place, specifically fishing village, to work, identity, community.
4. Community—The importance of community to sense of loyalty, belonging, identity.
5. Inheritance—The importance of inheriting and passing on: inherited house, vanishing way of life, family history, a future.
Does THE SALT HOUSE Have Line-by-Line Similarities to THE FISHER KING?
7—king of the seas IDENTICAL TO 10-throughout—King
9—Dad was a lobsterman...we...ate like queens. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 76—”You’re watermen?” 119—Regina [means queen]
9—The kitchen and my bedroom shared a wall...In our small house there wasn’t much I couldn’t hear. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 137—The only thing separating our bedroom from my in-laws’ was a narrow bathroom whose thin walls imposed a forced intimacy on our family relations.
11—the way his face went hard. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 24—his face hardened. 402—his face hardened.
11—I lied 34—Even as the words left my mouth, I heard the lie in them 39—I lied to you 41—lying straight to her face 51—you lie 55—I lied to Kat 59—remembering the lie I’d told 66—I lied 71—”...that was a lie?” “It was a lie.” 93-96—”But you’ve never asked me to lie for you.” “It’s not lying” 101—”he was lying?” 112—as though I’d just told an elaborate lie 125—I lied. Jess had looked at me wide-eyed, startled at my overly elaborate lie, and I turned away, ashamed...”You said she would blame herself—” “She would have blamed herself” 126—”I guess that makes us both liars.” “You’re not a liar” 148—”You’re such a liar.” “That I’m a liar?” “So you are a liar.” “So that makes you a liar” 149—She nodded, but...she was lying 154—I lied...”And then I’m not a liar” 192—”I’m sorry.”...”No. I mean I’m sorry about everything. Sorry for lying about Alex 193—”But at least I didn’t lie.” “Lie? What did I lie about?” “About Amy,” I snapped before I could stop myself 194—”we didn’t want to start lyng to each other...I was sort of lying to myself 204—maybe even another lie 206—I could lie IDENTICAL TO 20—cover my lie 63—a white lie 65—a white lie 109—I’d been caught in a lie 110—accept my lie 127—I lied 131—It wasn’t in him to lie 131—prompted my lie 132—corroborate my lie 133—caught in my own lie 134—me—for lying 140—for my lying 150—an out-and-out lie 180—Sonny was a hopeless liar 238—to lie to him, to enter into a lie with him 239—need to latch onto this lie 307—I lied 350—I lied 396—I, who’d told one lie after another 404—I lied. 330—The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them 262—His voice trembled...with shame. 19—A familiar mixture of shame 21—“For shame,” 58—my impulse shamed me. 71—felt a pinch of shame. 132—Shame singed me. 306—My vanity had shamed me 343—Shame kindled in me. 362—This was uttered without a trace of shame. 383—confessing filled me with, not shame exactly. 413—shame engulfed me. 239—I saw that I was to blame. 282—I too, was partly to blame for this state of affairs 422—“I’m sorry, Mom,” I said, although whether I was apologizing for my outburst or her misspent life, I couldn’t say. Maybe both 358—I snapped 363—something in me snapped...Before I could stop myself 124—much less admit to myself.
11—I heard the clock in the kitchen ticking away the time. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 190—I became aware of the ticking of the grandfather clock. 304—The clock ominously ticked off the minutes 365—Gradually, they were replaced by the steady, rhythmic tick-tock of the clock.
12—slammed the bottle down so hard, the table shook. The noise made Mom jump. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 234—slammed the clock down on the table with a bang. I jumped. 63—slamming it behind him. I jumped.
12—”Stop what? Trying to make love to my wife, or trying to figure out why she hates it when I touch her?” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 56—I leaned over to kiss him. He turned away and, to cover for his avoidance, 59—he was avoiding me, rejecting me. 60—Our sexual problems had begun about a year earlier.
19—Parent Talk magazine. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 168—Parenting magazines.
19—I don’t remember the ambulance ride or the room where we waited or the hospital...Those first months after she died were a blur. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 122—I don’t remember riding in the car or eating or sleeping or moving about...My brother’s funeral is a blank space in my memory...What followed remains a blur in my memory. 416—When I look back on those first eight weeks it’s all a blur.
20—throughout Josie IDENTICAL TO 1—By Josie Gerard [second edition]
20—the Salt House, a dilapidated farmhouse across town passed down to us from Jack’s grandfather. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 33—the house had fallen into disrepair. 418—My grandfather had left the farm to her alone.
22—We were supposed to be living in the Salt House now. The plan had been to...move across town once renovations were complete...There wasn’t an inch of the house that didn’t remind me of her...The bathroom upstairs where I’d peed on a stick and watched the plus sign appear...But our savings were gone. The money we’d taken out to renovate the Salt House was gone—and we were paying two mortgages now. I’d mentioned putting the Salt House on the market months ago. Letting someone else finish the renovation...But we were out of time, and money. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 16—our house and were remodeling it. 7—We were desperately trying to finish the remodeling job we’d abandoned a year earier for lack of funds. 9—All remodleding came to a standstill. 8—Spending time and money fixing up [house]. 8—A wave of nostalgia engulfed me. 9—we took out a second mortgage. 16—we were poor.
22—Josie...with her formidable stature. IDENTICAL TO 1—By Josie Gerard [second edition] 83—my tall...frame. 126—I was as tall as he was.
24—you were told being a parent would be...the hardest job in the world, and you didn’t believe it. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 386—Mothering—parenting—was hard work. And where did I get the idea that working and mothering were mutually exclusive anyway?
25—Similar setting: summer, small fishing village in Alden, Maine. IDENTICAL TO 5, 7—summer, small fishing village on Trappe Island, Maryland.
25—the influx of visitors and summer people had changed the geography of Alden, with new bridges connecting the once-submerged roads to make access possible to houses perched high on pilings...we both knew the summer folk were good for business. And business was what mattered to Boon. When we first started Down East Lobster Supply, I’d fish and Book would sell. Now I still fished, but we had a handful of guys from Alden who sold their catch to us. We sold some of our lobster out of the shop, or to local restaurants. But it was our shipping business that allowed us to keep our price per pound competitive. The Freshest Lobster in Maine Delivered Straight to Your Kitchen was how we grew from some kids just out of high school hauling traps to lobster dealers. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 202—Tourists descended on the area from D.C. and Baltimore and as far away as Philadelphia to fill up seafood restaurants and B & Bs and marinas. They kept the recreational boat companies in business by chartering fishing vessels and race boats 6—In the last half-century, a dozen other coastal islands... tethered to the mainland by vaulting bridges 96—All the houses were...propped up on skirts of cinder blocks. 94—In its heyday, King Crab had dominated with operations on every front from catching to canning. King had started out with a string of ice-houses and built them into picking plants, which expanded to include processing factories. 184—the wholesale seafood distribution business, serving as a middleman between watermen and restaurants, grocers, and, increasingly, international brokers. Sayer gutted the plant and remodeled it into an upscale restaurant which, in an ironic twist of fate, bought seafood from Ewell Throughout—[Sonny fishes and Gail sells].
26—lobster prices dropped below the price of ground beef. Record harvests glutted the market. Too many lobsters, not enough buyers...Hank Bitts had fired his sternman and brought his wife aboard in his place... One less man to pay...Last I’d looked in the books. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 262—drive down the price of crabs 210—record catches 209—a boon for the crab harvest 214—“I’m hauling in record numbers of crabs.” 215—overabundance floods the market.” 7—we had always worked together, whether it was on the bay 9—cutting back on their...crew...we were forced to let our deckhands go 8—I kept the books 218—balancing the books each week fell to me...I was doing the books.
26—The guys had a field day with that one over the radio. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 208—two-way radio...I heard sniggering or mounting ludicrous arguments designed to bait Don or Peter into debates followed by explosive laughter. But they seemed to take it in stride, good-naturedly letting themselves be the butt of jokes.
28—His biceps were small boulders SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 58—His corded arms lay at his sides.
28—He shook his head in an aw-shucks kind of way, as though we were old friends just shooting the s**t. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 140—shaking his head as though abashed...trying to recapture their former jolly camaraderie.
29—my hand went to the scar above my eye. I felt the thick line that sliced through my eyebrow...my right eye had taken the brunt of the blow...my vision in that eye would never be the same. IDENTICAL TO 228—Even the scar bisecting his eyebrow had faded to a raised white squiggle. 179—a long gash opened up over his right eyebrow. 181—His right eye had completely swollen shut. 184—the persistent shadows that hooded his eyes.
29—He’d worked as a sternman on his father’s boat for a couple of summers in high school, just like every other kid in these parts who was related to someone in the fishing business. I’d fished with Pop, my grandfather, ever since I’d turned ten. But I’d kept fishing. I’d fished ever since...Pop’s inshore territory had always been the western edge of Turner Point...And the territory had become mine... territories were made out of concrete. Mess with them and you might get your gear cut. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 242—King, who’d been hauling pots since he was a child 191—“We’re fishing the same as we always did...The same as my daddy and his daddy before him.” 405—I’m the one who carried on the family tradition. I’m the one who put in the years.” 224—“are you suggesting we drive out newcomers by cutting their traplines like Maine lobstermen do?” “Well, I, for one, refuse to go around busting up a new guy’s pots or trashing his boat—even if he is competition.”
29—He nodded as though he’d known this all along. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 397—He nodded slowly as though he’d guessed this.
29—In the distance, the foghorn at breakwater Light let out a warning. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 281—From a distance came the long, low, lonely moan of the Bloody Point Lighthouse foghorn.
31—”I should have rights to fish it.” “It was my territory. Ask anyone who fished with us back then, and they’ll tell you it belongs to me.”...His hands balled into fists...“You’ve got traps all over the place. Your buoys. All over the place.”...”You want to work these waters? Do what I do. And every other fisherman around here does. Find some open water and fish it.” “Don’t lecture me about fishing. I’ve been doing it as long as you, just in different waters...That water doesn’t belong to you. It was mine and you took it.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 405—“I earned the right to fish it!” 405—“It [fishery] was supposed to be mine and you took it.” 144—”Dad probably thinks it [fishery] belongs to him.” 142—His hands balled into fists. 167—my hands balled into fists. 154—turf wars with Virginia watermen...They endured poaching and severed crabpot lines. Once, when they stopped to re-fuel, someone even threw their day’s catch overboard. 427—Don and Peter think the future of the bay belongs to them. King and Gail think Sonny belongs to them.
32—[wife] Hope, the one person I was trying to bring back to me. I was failing, though. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 69—I’d tried everything I could think of in the last year [bring husband back] 287—I was losing him.
34—like a coiled spring IDENTICAL TO 158—The snake appeared coiled to spring.
34—”Dad. Is. Gone.” NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 399—“I. Am. Home.”
36—Then all the anger faded away, and there was just the feeling of missing her. IDENTICAL TO 146—In the aftermath of Wes’s death, I forgot all this [anger]—the only feeling left to me was missing him.
39—she was sitting on the closed toilet seat. IDENTICAL TO 226—I sat down on the closed toilet seat.
42—her eyes were on me, asking me questions. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 200—I felt their eyes on me 250—I could feel his eyes on me. 281—his face...I shut my eyes against the question stamped there.
42—Kat had asked if we could haul traps. She loved to throw the females back in, but it was the middle of June, and Maine law didn’t allow for hauling traps on Sundays between June and September. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 150—It was illegal to catch egg-bearing females...catching females at any stage was against the law. 23—The next day was Sunday...It was the only day of the week that, as King put it, “the lord and the law” prohibited working, 203—“The law and the Lord won’t let me work on His day.”
43—She took the key ring...and flipped through them methodically...click click. IDENTICAL TO 357—key ring. I picked it up. The toy keys made a satisfying clicking sound as they fell against each other. I flicked them over one by one...Click, click...I flipped a key over, then another. Click, click.
43—I’d been on the water by four in the morning all week. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 93—We rose even earlier than I had on the farm, around 3:00 A.M. [to fish].
44—”I’m out there because I want to be...I’d slit my throat if I did what you do all day.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 13—“I don’t want another job!...I already have the job I want,” 14—how restless he became when he was forced to spend long hours indoors. He’d be miserable strapped into a tie and stuck in a cubicle day after day. He had lived on the island and worked on the water his whole life.
46—The veins on the side of his neck bulged. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 142—The veins in his neck stood out in taut cords.
46—Everything on the water was earned. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 405—“I earned the right to fish it!”
48—I nodded, swallowing a gulp of shame 103—shame washed over me NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 262—His voice trembled...with shame 19—A familiar mixture of shame 21—“For shame,” 58—my impulse shamed me 71—felt a pinch of shame 132—Shame singed me.306—My vanity had shamed me 343—Shame kindled in me 362—This was uttered without a trace of shame383—confessing filled me with, not shame exactly 413—shame engulfed me.
48—I hadn’t been late on a payment in my life...Neither of us were big spenders. And then came the past year...Now we were coming up short...She keeps talking about starting over somewhere new. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 10—we still couldn’t stay ahead of our payments. 75—we hadn’t been forced into bankruptcy by wild spending. 321—He’d already showed his unwillingness to start over.
49—”I’ve got a stack of traps in the back of the truck that need fixing...They’re my traps. I fix them.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 202—crab pots stood empty in mountainous stacks atop pilothouse canopies and piers. 353—stacked crab pots, nets, and floats. 359—He was...repairing crabpots, 212—“It took me a solid week to rewire every dang one of my pots,”
52—By the time I was born, Pop had built up steadily from those two traps to five hundred. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 153—”how King Crab was built up into the successful company it is today.” 96—King had started out with a string of ice-houses and built them into picking plants, which expanded to include processing factories.
52—Hope and I had inherited the house...renovating the house, moving into it for good. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 77—were we entitled to an inheritance? 321—claim his inheritance. 15—we’d just bought our house and were remodeling it.
56—He wore a shirt that said Plumbers Lay Good Pipe. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 412—his T-shirt logo, “Paralegals do it in their briefs.”
60—Refusing to allow me to date...My father and I had argued about it months ago...My mother had chimed in that she thought I was old enough, responsible. But he’d stormed out of the room. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 103—My very first date had been a disaster, and I was convinced it would be my last...Our second “date” preceded much like the first one. 109—Don might have reported to him on our “dates,” 101—What does that have to do with Gail going on a date with him?”...He...fled the room.
65—”apparently there’s heat vent in the bathroom that connects to your bedroom.” “So you hear us arguing about—” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 137—The only thing separating our bedroom from my in-laws’ was a narrow bathroom whose thin walls imposed a forced intimacy on our family relations 226—After a minute, the murmur of low voices filtered through the wall.
68—”us rough lobstermen. When our knuckles aren’t dragging on the ground.” IDENTICAL TO 203—we [watermen] were creatures whose knuckles dragged on the ground.
69—Gina. IDENTICAL TO 190-throughout—Gina.
72—I...tried to envision the moment the wind lifted her ashes. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 410—Then a sudden gust swooped up and swirled it [ashes] over Regina’s head.
80-82—he said something that came out in a jumble of words...I knew it was patois. He’d slip into the language now and again. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 90—I spoke in an excited jumble 92—And the old folks’ speech was peppered with “thee”s, “thou”s, and “ye”s delivered in...Elizabethan cadences...if he were tired or caught up in conversation, I’d occasionally hear King slip and utter a “tis” or “thine,” too.
81-82—summer folks were usually smart enough to stay far clear of the territories of working lobstermen. Those who weren’t smart enough lost their gear, cut loose in a tumble on the bottom...I’d never destroyed gear before...boats got sunk...resisting the urge to slice my knife through the line SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 224—“are you suggesting we drive out newcomers by cutting their traplines like Maine lobstermen do?” “I, for one, refuse to go around busting up a new guy’s pots or trashing his boat—even if he is competition...I’m no thug.”
82—Then it was back to work: gaff the buoy; put the warp in the hauler; notch and throw back the punched and undersized lobsters, crabs...bait the bags; and repeat...I’d been doing it for long, the movements were second nature. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 126—Wordlessly, we moved aft to the stern and took up our usual starboard positions. Side-by-side we ran traplines, him gaffing crab pots while I emptied them over the washrail, re-baited, and tossed them back overboard. In oyster season I winched the scrape while he hoisted it over the transom...Now, as Sonny readied the traplines I transferred handfuls of salted chum from a big barrel to the bait box behind the rotor to spear on the hooks.
88—my brown-eyed, brown-haired self. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 17—my brown ones [eyes] and maching straight mane.
91—”I was supposed to start school in the spring, but...” his voice trailed off. “but you didn’t,” I finished for him. He...shook his head. “I love it here.”...”but now I’m not sure I even want to go.”...”She’s [mother] sort of upset with me because I told her I was having second thoughts about school.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 116—“Don’t get me wrong,” he said in a voice full of bravado. “It’s not that I don’t want to go to college…” he trailed off...I waited for him to finish his sentence, and when he didn’t, finished it for him. “But you don’t.” 115—He shook his head. “Why would anyone want off the water?” 116—“no one’s forcing you, right?” He nodded. “Dad,” he said, heavily.
93-96—I lied, trying to sound casual...”Can you not mention it?” He looked confused for a minute...He leaned back in his chair and watched me. “What’s going on?” he asked finally. “Nothing.”...he said, pointing to the chair across from his desk. “Sit.” I crossed the room and slumped in the chair. He watched me. “You don’t believe that.”...”Fine,” he said, going back to his papers. “Fine...as in I won’t mention it.” NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 307—I lied. 350—I lied. 404—I lied 352—I tried to make my voice sound casual 354—”I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t say anything.” She looked at me soberly for a minute...She sat back in her chair and looked at me...“Any particular reason you don’t want him to know?” “I don’t know,” I said, evasively... Unsteadily, I sank back into the chair...She looked at me, awaiting further explanation...Her eyes remained steady on me...”Any particular reason you don’t want him to know?” 252—”You don’t really believe that,” 355—After a minute, she went back to her papers. 356—“My lips are sealed.”
97—He looked at her...like he didn’t know her. Like they were strangers. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 402—He stared at me for a long moment without a shred of recognition, as if I were a complete stranger.
97—a feeling of being outside myself watching from a distance, detached and robotic, my movements generated from memory instead of desire...as if my body wanted to rid itself of this information. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 377—seemed to be observing the proceedings from a great distance. 349-350—In bed with Don or Peter I went through the motions, feigned the same level of involvement, responded as they expected me to. But I felt as remote from the act as I had. 92—as if my body were trying to turn purge itself of all the pain it had absorbed.
98—and then Elliot was born. I think that forced me to deal with it...Now I’m desperate to remember the memories...A way of keeping him alive SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 413—My despondency might have engulfed me had it not been for Andy [baby born]. His growing needs propelled me into action. 124—I could trick my mind into believing he was still alive 18—perhaps as a way of keeping hope alive.
100—I do love Jack IDENTICAL TO 358—”I love Sonny.”
101—“if Ryland thought being an Alden native meant anything, he was wrong. It wasn’t like once you were a Mainer, you were always a Mainer. Once you moved away, you were an outsider. And that applied to everyone. Local fishermen had even stricter rules. And all of them involved being born here, staying here, and working here, every day. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 117—As a native son who took his inclusion on the island for granted, 96—the only way to transcend the status of outsider...But if their outsider status fazed them. 384—I’d spent decades trying to transcend my outsider status. 296—Don had never been one of the natives who viewed me as a “come ’ere” because I wasn’t born here. 194—”He’s a watermen, born and bred.”
103—”mostly everyone is just like Jack...hardworking people trying to make a living.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 160—Sonny had always been hard-working. 13—instead of having to haggle with seafood buyers and DNR officials just to make a living wage. 191—“A man shouldn’t have to break his back just to make a living.”
104-throughout—Amy IDENTICAL TO 17-throughout—Amy
106—I fished the phone out of my pocket. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 71—I fished around in my purse 411—I fished around in my bag.
109—She’d been on me to go to the doctor NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 367—refused to see a doctor despite urging from Regina and Sonny.
109—”Are you awake?” she said, and I mumbled, Mm-hmm. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 137—“Are you asleep?” he whispered...“Hmm,”
109—I felt her eyes on me. It was a moment before the bed dipped and she got in...I wondered if...losing her was payback for my mistakes. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 200—I felt their eyes on me 250—I could feel his eyes on me. 126—I felt the mattress sink with Sonny’s weight. 285—I was losing him. 323—My fleeting moment of payback.
111—I wouldn’t run into anyone I knew. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 307—I had fears about them running into each other.
112—”is it that you think it’s too much work to get it out of the shell...?” NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 323—how to pick crabs...My father soon abandoned it, complaining that it was too much work.
113—I told him I had my eye on Emerson [college] SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 105—He had picked Columbia [University]
113—[Becoming sweethearts] It was all just...easy...It just happened. Like it was the most natural thing in the world. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 121—I’ve tried to pinpoint the moment when we crossed the threshold from friends to sweethearts but never can...Things between us developed as smoothly, as naturally, as they always had. When we kissed for the first time it felt familiar
118—I didn’t know if this was a question. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 107—It wasn’t a question. 253—It wasn’t a question.
118—”Petey we called him” IDENTICAL TO 161—Peter was called Petey
119—”you hate change.” NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 248—strenuously resisted change. 321—fear of change. 335—his...fear of change
121—”Your father doesn’t know how to admit he doesn’t feel well. He thinks it makes him look weak.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 256—The men shifted their weight, embarrassed at being reminded of their infirmities.
125—It took a minute for the words to process in my head...but they still came as a shock. They rippled through my body...Suddenly, I was back in Maddie’s bedroom. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 333—I don’t know how long I sat in silence struggling to process these newfound insights, 301—still struggling to process Don’s words. 307—my promise to Sonny rippled through me like a tremor. 182—Suddenly, I was back in the kitchen at the farm with Wes.
126—”He’s going to college and I probably won’t ever see him again.” NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 106—“You’re going off to college next week...Who knows if we’ll ever see each other again?”
126—Jack and I tried for another child...It took more than two years...We’d had such a hard time conceiving Kat...we didn’t even bother with birth control. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 16—We had begun trying for a baby two years earlier 97—had been trying, “really trying,” to have a baby for two years 279—I had completely forgotten to use birth control 280—had conveniently “forgotten” to use birth control.
128—But he’d insisted that he was fine, just run-down from the hours he was putting in. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 367—But he continued to maintain that there was nothing wrong with him...just a little stiff and pale from being off the water for so long.
130—Josie had handed them [letters] to me months ago...She’d looked sheepish, explaining that she’d opened them, even though they were addressed to me. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 1-By Josie Gerard [second edition] 20—I acknowledged sheepishly. 88—I shrugged sheepishly. 184—I had no business opening it [letter]...I slipped a fingernail under the flap and unfolded the bill. 162—an envelope addressed to us. 363—”They’re addressed to me,”
132—”The water at high tide seemed like it might come in the house. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 367—the water table until the bay...seeped under our doors.
132—”As soon as I said it, I wanted to take it back.” NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 328—Now that they were out of my mouth, the words sounded so bald that I had an impulse to take them back.
132—we ate them from paper plates. IDENTICAL TO 300—to rely on disposable paper plates.
134—”that we’ve been together.” Alex was quiet then, and when I looked at him, he was staring at me, his mouth open. The words ran back through my head. That we’ve been together. My face flamed. “I don’t mean together as in we’ve been together. Like that,” I said quickly. But repeating it just made it worse...The words were out there...I was suddenly aware of how close we were sitting next to each other. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 306—These crabs are worse than newborns.” Then I heard myself and was overcome by self-consciousness. “Or so they tell me,” I mumbled. 331—The words were out... 251—We sat side-by-side, our thighs almost touching, but to shift my barstool away to put more distance between us would have been to acknowledge our nearness, 267--I was suddenly aware of the tiny space, his nearness
137—I felt rejected...I’d caught him looking at me when he thought I wasn’t watching...Alex...leaned away from me, as though he wanted to jump out of the truck. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 298—I felt utterly rejected. 119—I occasionally caught him watching me. 81—I’d often catch him...watching me. 346—when I looked around he was watching me. 57—He turned away and, to cover for his avoidance, swung open the [truck] door.
138—I felt his eyes on me, felt them. IDENTICAL TO 200—I felt their eyes on me 250—I could feel his eyes on me.
138—the crushed shells in the driveway. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 19—oyster shell walkway 229—oyster shell path 427—oyster shell path.
138—He’d been anxious to get away from me. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 62—As though eager to get away from me 60—he was avoiding me, rejecting me 126—He...avoiding me.
140—I went to the bathroom and rummaged through the drawer until I found the pill bottle I was looking for...I didn’t know if it would help—but I was desperate. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 227—I opened the medicine cabinet and rummaged among the canisters and jars for something to knock me out...It would be daylight soon and if I didn’t get at least some sleep, I wouldn’t be able to function.
144-146—fist slamming into his nose...the bridge of his nose exploding under my fist. He dropped to his knees and moaned, cupping his face in his hands, dark blood pouring through his fingers...he tilted his head back...throwing his head back now and then to staunch the blood dripping from his nose...”you broke my nose. Probably a rib too...The way it seemed to pulse even with my heartbeat. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 401—The sound of bone connecting with bone was horrible. More slamming sounds followed...Jets of blood flew through the air and spattered across the floor...Don was bent over the sink, blood streaming from his nose...I tilted his head back, “Is it broken?” I asked, tentatively. “I think so,” he croaked. 183—several ribs were broken. 179—With each heartbeat a pulse of blood spilled out and ran down his face. 180—I...tilted his head back and tenderly pressed it to his cut to staunch the flow.
149—Jess had the brownest eyes...Dad always said they were like a pair of does. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 17—my brown ones [eyes] 32—“Gail has big ole cow eyes.”
150—”he scooched over until he was as close as he could get to you...Your legs were touching.” They hadn’t touched, really...But they had sat close to each other, close enough. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 251—we’d scooted our stools closer to make room for them. We sat side-by-side, our thighs almost touching
153—season...was in full swing. IDENTICAL TO 160—season was in full swing.
158—with a halfhearted tilt of his head. Maybe, I don’t know, it said. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 403—I shook my head. I don’t know.
158—He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it...felt my heart sink IDENTICAL TO 64—I opened my mouth, closed it again. 153—My heart sank. 324—my heart sank. 351—I listened with a sinking heart.
158—out the door, the bell jingling as it closed. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 23—A string of bells hanging from the top jingled noisily.
159—”That’s it, Jack,” I said. “I’m calling the doctor. We’re going.” He shook his head...”You need stitches...we’re going to the emergency room.” I cleaned the blood off. If it hurt, he didn’t show it, not even a flinch when I swabbed some ointment into the cut, covered it with a bandage and wrapped it with gauze. NEARLY IDENTICAL 179-180—“I’ve got to get you to a hospital,” I said...“No,” he exhaled weakly, garbling his words. “Hospital.” “But you’re bleeding!” I exclaimed. “You need stitches.” 401—I wiped the rest of the blood off his face and hands. 181—I’d done my best to keep ice on his wounds through the night
159—I climbed back into bed next to him, and looked down at him...Now, with his long body stretched out next to me, I reached out and put my hand over his heart, felt the rise and fall of it. He was...muscular, his shoulders and arms thick from years of heaving heavy traps out of the water...I know every inch of his body. Every nick, every scar, the shape of every limb and joint...I put my head on his chest, turned until my lips were pressed against the wisps of dark hair. I felt the tears come, silenty, swiftly. They tricked down my cheek and slid down to the hollow of his belly. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 145—I propped myself up on an elbow and looked down at him. 59—rest the length of my body beside his. 68—I slipped my hand under the blanket and began stroking his chest with the flat of my palm...his ribcage continued its steady rise and fall. 307—Sonny was...muscular. 314—his was a body carved and shaped by work, by physical labor with powerful upper arms and broad shoulders like twisted rope. 59—His was a body shaped and molded by work. Years of hauling scrapes and winching up steel anchors had sculpted long ropes of knotted muscles in his limbs. 316—Droplets of perspiration like translucent pearls pooled in the hollows of his body.
160—my eyes searching for another injury. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 178—I hysterically patted him all over but couldn’t tell where it was coming from, couldn’t find the wound.
163—A project abandoned for more than a year. The nursery was the only room that was finished. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 7—We were desperately trying to finish the remodeling job we’d abandoned a year earier. 16—the nursery...It was the most unfinished room in the house.
163—the girls picked out the wallpaper. They agonized, found another they liked, then another. They finally settled on a thick yellow paper with a border of butter cream, sage, and lavender hearts. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 419—She spent a long time deliberating between a pastel-colored one with a rose trellis and a yellow honeycomb with bumblebees.
165—in her hand was a bag full of ashes...Maddie...”She was trying to dump it in the ocean.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 410—she set the urn down...pulled out a plastic bag...then in one motion tore it open and upended it over the water. The gray ash fell in a mass.
165—her expression a mixture of emotions that I knew mirrored my own: confusion, shock, disbelief. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 259—A stream of fleeting emotions crossed his face. He appeared, by turns, astonished, enraged, worried. 279—mirror his response.
166—Kat looked at the ashes cradled in my arms. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 410—She was hugging the urn of King’s ashes to her chest.
166—arguing over the bank statements on my desk. Statements that I refused to open, as if by ignoring them, I could pretend they didn’t say we were out of money. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 162—In the middle of the kitchen table was a pile of...bills...Judging by the height of the stack, it looked like a week’s worth. 384—In the months that elapsed between the reading of Peter’s and Don’s bills I did my best to forget about them, to pretend we weren’t living on borrowed time. 16—we were poor.
168—I had lost...We turned and faced the water...I saw ashes billowing out before us. Gusts of ocean air, salty and thick, grabbed hold of the opaque cloud, and suddenly it was alive and swirling. A life of its own, rising and falling with each tug of the wind...our faces turned to the sky...as the last of her ashes scattered soundlessly in the gasps of the salted air. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 414—all I’d lost 410—King’s ashes...she reached the end of the dock...Then a sudden gust swooped up and swirled it over Regina’s head. Her face lifted as she spun around, following its flight. We watched as the breeze bore it aloft, dipping and diving and whirling...releasing scattered trails of ashes
174—I’d worked this business my whole life, been down on the docks since I was a boy. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 15—He had lived on the island and worked on the water his whole life. 22—”All those boys were raised on the water.”
179—more of a statement than a question. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 107—It wasn’t a question. 253—It wasn’t a question. 353—It wasn’t a question.
180—I shook my head, stood up on wobbly legs, sat back down again. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 392-393—I pulled myself to my feet and the blood rushed from my head. I felt woozy...I sank back down.
181—Sunday. When it was illegal to haul. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 23—The next day was Sunday...It was the only day of the week that, as King put it, “the lord and the law” prohibited working 203—“The law and the Lord won’t let me work on His day.”
189—Boon hit the steering wheel with his hand, swore under his breath...He kept his eyes on the road, his thumb drumming the edge of the steering wheel. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 173—on the steering wheel punctuated periodically by vigorous smacks. 176—he swore under his breath. 73—His fingertips kept up a constant, nervous drumming. 172—thumping the steering wheel with the heel of his hand.
197—looked at me from over the top of his glasses. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 381—Through the tops of his glasses, he fixed his eyes on Peter.
198—Jack was...in the hospital hooked up to tubes and lines and monitors. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 410—King’s vital organs began to fail more and more machines were crowded around him. 411—the fluid levels of the other bags, the flow of the trailing tubes, the digital readouts on the machines.
200—Jack...said the day his life really began was the day he met me. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 52—I date the beginning of my real life from the year. 29—as if to suggest that they were born with their union.
201—suddenly I knew what it was...”and she told him she was pregnant...[she] Never woke up...He doesn’t talk about anything that bothers him. Took him over a year...to tell me he felt responsible...That it was his fault. That if he’d stayed with her, none of this would have happened.” “That’s a burden to carry all these years.” “I think the reason he didn’t tell you has to do with forgiving.” “I would have forgiven him.” “I wasn’t talking about you. I was talking about him,” Boon said. “I don’t think he’d forgiven himself. I’m not sure he knows how to.” NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 153—Suddenly, I knew what she was going to say. 387—Suddenly, I knew where. 123—he never woke up. 31—burdened him with responsibility. 108—Clearly, it was all my fault. It had to be, didn’t it? Otherwise, why did I feel so guilty? Underneath, I, too, had believed that it was my fault 124—abandoning my brother...I should have stayed 26—”this never would have happened.” 124—I’d fled at the first opportunity and left him alone and defenseless. For years, I couldn’t bear even to think about it, much less admit to myself the hand I’d played in his death...maybe I could begin to redeem myself, forgive myself, perhaps even find a way to live with myself. 312—It was...shameless, to want Sonny to forgive the unforgivable, 351—I would later...hope for forgiveness from Don.
211—on the water are the pearl in the oyster shell. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 94—Blue crabs, the crown jewel of the bay,
211—she...looking at me like I was someone she didn’t know. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 402—He stared at me...as if I were a complete stranger.
212—”when she told me she was pregnant, I told her it wasn’t mine, even though it could’ve been.” ”And you’re blaming yourself for all of it?” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 398—“Is it mine?” 400—”Am I the father?”...“How could you be the father? I’m the father!” 10—And while nobody blamed him, he blamed himself enough for everyone.
213—”It’s called grief, Jack!...Grief!...It’s called grief.”...the tears streaming down her face. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 90—Hot tears of frustration and grief...gushed down my cheeks. 413—Tears streaked down my cheeks...of grief.
218—Jack is...sanding a banister. Now and again, he comes in and I feel his lips against the...side of my neck. When he leaves...I heard him whistling. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 6—I heard the happy sounds of Sonny working...The clanging of his tools reached me from the small room. 7—I went to him...I wrapped my arms around him from behind and kissed the back of his neck. 6—He whistled tunelessly.