Meg Mitchell Moore Margaret Mitchell Moore, Doubleday Publishers, Elisabeth Weed, The Book Group Does THE CAPTAIN’S DAUGHTER by Infringe the Copyright of THE FISHER KING by Hayley Kelsey? Newburyport Massachusetts

Does THE CAPTAIN’S DAUGHTER by Meg Mitchell Moore Infringe the Copyright of THE FISHER KING by Hayley Kelsey? Read on to Decide for Yourself (and see more at https://medium.com/@hayleykelseyauthor)

History:

On May 1, 2013, Doubleday VP John Pitts accepted my Facebook “friend” request. I submitted a query letter and synopsis to him via Facebook

On September 23, 2013 (and December 20, 2013 follow-up) and March 20, 2017, I submitted a query letter, synopsis, and first 50 pages of my novel to agent Brettne Bloom at Kneerim, Williams & Bloom. On July 15, 2017, staffer Lucy Cleland requested a copy for consideration. On September 9, 2017, she emailed, “I was able to connect with our agents about this, but ultimately they felt that the work wasn't for us. In the competitive trade fiction market, our agents feel the need to be very selective.”

On September 23, 2013 and December 20, 2013, I queried agent Julie Barer at Barer Literary

On November 5, 2013, I queried agent Elisabeth Weed at Weed Literary

On December 21, 2013, I queried agent Faye Bender at Faye Bender Literary Agency. (In 2014, Danielle Burby interned at the agency; see above for more re: Burby)

In 2015, agents Bloom, Barer, Weed, and Bender formed The Book Group. Weed represents alleged infringer Meg Mitchell Moore.

On July 18, 2017, The Captain's Daughter was published by Doubleday.

Does THE CAPTAIN’S DAUGHTER Have Striking and Substantial Similarities to THE FISHER KING?

• Similar setting: In FISHER: summer, small fishing village on Trappe Island, Maryland. In CAPTAIN'S: summer, small fishing village on Little Harbor, Maine.
• Identical minor characters’ names: In FISHER, Sheila, Brock. In CAPTAIN'S, Sheila, Brock.
• In FISHER, native sons were eager to escape small fishing village for college and return 20 years later. In CAPTAIN'S, native daughter was eager to escape small fishing village for college and returns 20 years later. 
• In FISHER, patriarch waterman King is stubborn, taciturn, stoic, tough, gruff. In CAPTAIN'S, patriarch lobsterman Charlie is stubborn, taciturn, stoic, tough, gruff.
• In FISHER, waterman father falls terminally ill, refuses to see doctor, weakens, dozes in recliner. In CAPTAIN'S, lobsterman father falls terminally ill, refuses to see doctor, weakens, dozes in recliner.
• In FISHER, Gail is tall, strong, thirty-five-year-old waterman capable of manual labor. In CAPTAIN'S, Eliza is tall, strong, thirty-seven-year-old lobster sternman capable of manual labor.
• In FISHER, married daughter-in-law Gail resumes affair with teenage sweethearts Don, Peter. In CAPTAIN'S, married daughter Eliza starts resume affair with teenage sweetheart Russell.
• In FISHER, Gail, lonely wife of sterile husband Sonny has affairs. In CAPTAIN'S, Deirdre, lonely wife of sterile husband Brock starts affair. 
• In FISHER, Gail continues generational illegitimacy and becomes single mother. In CAPTAIN'S, Mary continues generational illegitimacy and becomes single mother.
• In FISHER, teenage Aspen is pregnant, contemplated abortion, but carries baby to term, keeps it a secret from community. Gail becomes pregnant, keeps it a secret from husband. In CAPTAIN'S, teenage Mary is pregnant, contemplated abortion, but carries baby to term, keeps it a secret from boyfriend Josh and community.
• In FISHER, juxtaposes pregnant Gail doubling in size to ill King shrinking to half former size. In CAPTAIN'S, juxtaposes pregnant Mary’s peach-sized fetus to dying Charlie’s walnut-sized brain tumor.
• In FISHER, Aspen is pre-med student. In CAPTAIN'S, Eliza is former med student. 
• In FISHER, four plot points turn on letters read at key junctures. In CAPTAIN'S four plot points turn on letters read at key junctures. 
• In FISHER, Sonny avoids signing necessary papers for bankruptcy hearing. In CAPTAIN'S, Eliza avoids signing necessary papers to appoint guardian for children. 
• In FISHER, Gail remains at King’s bedside when he dies. In CAPTAIN'S, Mary remains at Charlie’s bedside when he dies.
• In FISHER, waterman Sonny doesn’t want to work on the mainland being anything but a waterman. In CAPTAIN'S Russell doesn’t want to work on mainland being anything but a lobsterman.
• In FISHER, younger brother Wes was born prematurely, wore breathing tube taped to nostrils, was frail child cared for my older sister Gail after mother abdicated responsibility. In CAPTAIN'S, Zoe was born prematurely, wore breathing tube taped to nostrils, was frail child; Eliza was cared for by neighbor Val after mother abdicated responsibility for a week and after she died.
• In FISHER, Gail is an outsider from away, not accepted by gossipy fishing community, must learn social rules. In CAPTAIN'S, Eliza is an outsider from away, not accepted by gossipy wealthy community, must learn social rules. Rob is an outsider from away in fishing community.  
• In FISHER, watermen work twelve-hour days starting at 4:00AM, are prohibited by law from working on Sundays, emptying another’s traps. In CAPTAIN'S, lobstermen work twelve-hour days starting at 3:00AM, are prohibited by law from working on Sundays, emptying another’s traps.
• In FISHER, Gail is math whiz, high-school math teacher suggests college, she keeps books for family business. In CAPTAIN'S, Mary is math whiz, high-school math teacher suggests college, she learns bookkeeping.
• In FISHER, teenage Gail had never been on a date. In CAPTAIN'S teenage Mary had never been on a date. 
• In FISHER, wife Gail makes husband Sonny feels unmanly because he can’t support her without his father’s financial help. In CAPTAIN'S, wife Eliza makes husband Rob feels unmanly because he can’t support her without his mother’s financial help and doesn’t work with his hands.    
• In FISHER, wealthy tourists seeks “local color,” see island as quaint, bygone-era fishing theme park, buy up vacation timeshares. In CAPTAIN'S, wealthy tourists (including Eliza’s daughters, mother-in-law) seek “local color,” see harbor as quaint, bygone-era, buy up vacation mansions.
• In FISHER, Gail discovers Sonny’s medical bill by snooping. In CAPTAIN'S, Eliza discovers Charlie’s medical diagnosis by snooping.
• In FISHER, Gail enlists pre-med student Aspen’s help interpreting medical terms in Sonny’s diagnosis. In CAPTAIN'S, Eliza draws on her med student education to interpret Charlie’s diagnosis.
• In FISHER, wounded teenage sweethearts Don and Peter can’t forgive Gail for not waiting for them when they go away to college. In CAPTAIN'S, wounded teenage sweetheart Russell can’t forgive Eliza for having abortion, going away to college. 
• In FISHER, Gail fasts before fertility clinic appointment, blushes when filling out personal medical history form, visits family planning clinic. In CAPTAIN'S, Mary fasts before family planning clinic appointment, blushes when filling out personal medical history form.
• In FISHER, teenage Gail avoids Don and Peter by hiding out, feigning sleep. In CAPTAIN'S, teenage Mary avoids Josh by hiding out, feigning sleep.  
• In FISHER, un-mothered Gail seeks mothering from mother-in-law. In CAPTAIN'S, motherless Eliza seeks mothering from mother-in-law.
• In FISHER, Aspen reports on stages of baby’s development. in CAPTAIN'S, Mary researches stages of baby’s development. 
• In FISHER, Gail envisions malformed eggs and sperm in her mind’s eye. In CAPTAIN'S, Eliza envisions brain tumor expanding in her mind’s eye.
• In FISHER, Don asks King to captain his trawler. In CAPTAIN'S, Russell asks Eliza to be his sternman.  
• In FISHER, Gail and Sonny haul crab traps harmoniously side-by-side. In CAPTAIN'S Russell and Eliza haul lobster traps harmoniously side-by-side. 
• In FISHER, Gail is affected by Don’s and Peter’s nearness, touch, and thinks their distinctly different body types let her to separate them from Sonny. In CAPTAIN'S, Eliza is powerfully affected by Russell’s nearness, touch, and thinks she sought a distinctly different body type in a husband. 
• In FISHER, Gail is physically and emotionally satisfied by an honest day’s physical labor. In CAPTAIN'S Eliza is physically and emotionally satisfied by an honest day’s physical labor. 
• In FISHER, Gail listens to watermen ribbing each other on the two-way radio. In CAPTAIN'S, Eliza listens to Russell and lobstermen ribbing each other on the VHF radio channel.
• In FISHER, Gail relishes the easy camaraderie of watermen discussing the days catch and the weather at the dock at the end of the day. In CAPTAIN'S, Eliza relishes the easy camaraderie of lobstermen discussing the day’s catch and the weather at the co-op at the end of the day.
• In FISHER, Gail watches husband Sonny’s big hands holding a tiny baby. In CAPTAIN'S Eliza remembers how husband Robs’s big hands looked holding their five-pound daughter. 
• In FISHER, T-shirts and baseball caps read “SAVE THE BAY.” The backlash version reads “PAVE THE BAY.” In CAPTAIN'S, a bumper sticker reads “f**k THE WHALES AND SAVE THE FISHERMEN.”
• In FISHER, a bumper sticker reads “SAVE THE BAY.” In CAPTAIN'S, a bumper sticker reads "TREASURE THE CHESAPEAKE.”
• In FISHER, Gail vomits up the pain her body has absorbed. In CAPTAIN'S Eliza vomits up a lifetime of pain.
• In FISHER, Sonny unilaterally decides their financial future—to reject independence by relying on father—without consulting Gail. In CAPTAIN'S, Rob unilaterally decides their financial future—to reject dependence by stopping relying on mother—without consulting Eliza.
• In FISHER, Gail doesn’t want children. In CAPTAIN'S, Russell’s wife didn’t want children.
• In FISHER, Sonny saves and rereads precious list of baby names over the years until it’s worn. In CAPTAIN'S, Eliza saves and rereads precious letters over the years until they’re worn.
• In FISHER, King still records day’s catch in a ledger. In CAPTAIN'S, Mary still records day’s profits in a ledger.
• In FISHER, Don angrily harasses Gail about the baby she’s carrying; Sonny intercedes to rescue her, fistfight, gives him bloody nose, drives him away. In CAPTAIN'S, Josh angrily harasses Mary about baby she’s carrying; Charlie intercedes to rescue her, fistfight, gives him bloody nose, drives him away.
• In FISHER, King is halfway through erecting shed when learns needs government permits or can’t finish. In CAPTAIN'S, Rob is halfway through building house when learns needs government permits or can’t finish.
• In FISHER, Sonny takes foolish risk, gets beat up, his ribs are taped. In CAPTAIN'S, Rob takes foolish risk, gets in sailing accident, his arm in sling.
• In FISHER, Sonny won’t break the watermen’s laws, which are deeply ingrained. In CAPTAIN'S, Eliza won’t break the lobstermen’s laws, which are deeply ingrained.
• In FISHER, meeting with lawyer over bankruptcy scene pits husband and wife against each other as it decides the characters’ financial fate. In CAPTAIN'S, meeting with lawyer over guardian scene pits husband and wife against each other as it decides the children’s financial fate.
• In FISHER, Gail and Sonny move back in with father. In CAPTAIN'S, Eliza moves back in with father.
• In FISHER, guilt-stricken for her role in brother’s death, Gail attempts to atone by protecting innocent Sonny. In CAPTAIN'S, guilt-stricken for adolescent abortion, Eliza attempts to atone by trying to save father from death.
• In FISHER, Gail is finally able to come to terms with her brother’s death when she sees husband embodied in son. In CAPTAIN'S, Eliza is able to come to terms with her father’s death when she sees him embodied in daughters.
• In FISHER, watermen/islanders have lived and worked on island for generations, are resentful of their dependence on seasonal tourism and sales of vacation homes. In CAPTAIN'S, lobstermen have lived and worked in harbor for generations, are resentful of their dependence on seasonal tourism and sales of vacation mansions.
• The denouements are identical: In FISHER, Gail finally comes to terms with her guilt and grief, accepts self, and is able to move on. Sonny finally loses his innocence, stops being dependent on father, gains independence. CAPTAIN'S, Eliza finally comes to terms with her guilt and grief, accepts self, and is able to move on. Rob finally loses his innocence, stops being dependent on mother, gains independence.
• The themes are identical: In FISHER, the importance of community to sense of belonging and identity. The importance of gaining independence to achieving adult maturity. The importance of physical work to sense of self and of purpose. The importance of passing on family history, genes, a future to next generation. Unresolved grief over loved one’s death and the attempt to atone for it. Emphasis on guilt, shame, and lying. In CAPTAIN'S, the importance of community to sense of belonging and identity. The importance of gaining independence to achieving adult maturity. The importance of physical work to sense of self and of purpose. The importance of passing on family history, genes, a future to next generation. Unresolved grief over loved one’s death and the recover from it. Emphasis on guilt, shame, and lying.

Does THE CAPTAIN’S DAUGHTER Have Plot and Theme Similarities to THE FISHER KING?

There are the eight main elements that comprise the “heart” on which FISHER turns, and CAPTAIN'S takes seven of them:

1. Business—Greed caused big business (architect) to overcapitalize.

2. Work & lack of work—The importance of honest, meaningful labor to identity & how its lack robs characters of identity. 

3. Setting—The importance of place, specifically island/harbor, 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: island/harbor, vanishing way of life, family history, a future.

6. Generational illegitimacy—Female protagonists mother & daughter had affair and illegitimate pregnancies.

7. Sterility—The importance of male fertility to fulfilling maternal urges and to passing on family history, genes, a future.

Does THE CAPTAIN’S DAUGHTER Have Line-by-Line Similarities to THE FISHER KING?

13—Setting: summer, small fishing village on Little Harbor, Maine IDENTICAL TO 5, 7—summer, small fishing village on Trappe Island, Maryland

9—throughout—Sheila IDENTICAL TO 18—throughout—Sheila 

11—if she caught the glance of Jodi or Catherine or Sheila, one of them might whisper aloud what Eliza was sure they all thought of her secretly. Interloper, they’d say. You don’t belong here. IDENTICAL TO 427—sign warned interlopers like me away. 96—were still considered “come ‘eres” who were “from away.” 386—I’d spent decades trying to transcend my outsider status 98—the only way to transcend the status of outsider

14—She could also crack a lobster like nobody’s business, pull out every scrap of meat out, wasting not even a fraction of an ounce. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 188—”Why, when Petey was a boy he could pry more meat out of a crab claw than anyone you ever saw.”

14, 56, 94, 116, 121—Brock IDENTICAL TO 41, 42, 43—Brock

14—Russell Perkins, one of the best lobsterman Little Harbor had ever seen...Must be that that hadn’t stuck, that he’d come back. The good ones always came back. They couldn’t really figure out any other way to live—they didn’t want to. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 366—Sonny refused college and came back to work the water. 11—”you’re twice the waterman he is” 13—”I don’t want another job!’ he burst out. “I already have the job I want,” [fishing]

17—growing up here, she couldn’t wait to get away. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 267—“I remember a time when you couldn’t wait to get away.”

17—She’d been so small and fragile (she’d been born almost four weeks early.) 207—”When she was born early...She was so tiny. So fragile and vulnerable.” 154—When she was born she’d weighed the same  a bag of sugar. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 44-45—Wes had been born prematurely and weighed only three pounds at birth. He spent his first couple of months of life in a plastic incubator connected to the world through tiny tubes taped over his nostril and wrists. He grew into a thin, sickly child.

18—Rob was from away, and there were certain things you just didn’t know if you were from away. IDENTICAL TO 96—were still considered “come ‘eres” who were “from away.”...Not only were my aunt and uncle from away. 119—The fact that she was “from away.” 198—That she was a “come ’ere” who was “from away.”

18—growing up here, she couldn’t escape fast enough...What were the chances that a motherless daughter of a lobsterman would get into an Ivy League school. IDENTICAL TO 56—She had desperately wanted to escape 93—There was no escape...an avenue of escape 245—she’d eloped with my father to escape 323—the doors to one escape route after another slammed shut 264—The island, which I’d once been so eager to leave 269—“I remember a time when you couldn’t wait to get away.” 104—He had picked [Ivy League] Columbia [University] primarily for its location—he wanted to get as far away from Trappe Island as possible

30—(A red flag: that she needed to lie.) 62—“Never had any reason to lie to you before, Eliza, not going to start now.” 64—her children were terrible liars. 69—he had croaked out something that wasn’t exactly a lie but wasn’t the full truth either. 106—Liar, liar 135—he or she was probably lying. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 20—I scrambled to cover my lie. 63—a white lie 109—I felt like I’d been caught in a lie. 110—whether or not to accept my lie 127—I lied. 131—It wasn’t in him to lie. 131—prompted my lie in the first place 132—corroborate my lie 133—caught in my own lie 134—me—for lying 140—for my lying 150—it was 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.

30—Mary hadn’t told anybody about her secret, not even Josh. She would tell him soon. 55—she thought...soon I can tell him. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 341—I couldn’t risk my secret getting out 341—I hadn’t told him about my pregnancy. 355—“It’s just that I haven’t told Sonny yet,”

33—This, she realized, was exactly the kind of...mother, Mary Brown wanted SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 150—I would have preferred to call her “Mom” but she never invited me to and corrected me whenever I did. Yet I realized that was what I secretly wanted. Having missed out on mothering from my own mother, I had approached her in the hopes that my mother-in-law might offer me a second chance. 

40—Her father was in his recliner. The remote rested in his hand, though the screen was quiet and dark and his eyes were closed. When he opened then his face took on the discomfited expression of a person caught in the act of something shameful. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 210—King was reclining in his La-Z-Boy, his feet up, remote in hand, watching a game on TV 203—King invariably fell asleep in his chair...He’d shrug, embarrassed at being caught 360—took long naps although, when awakened he always claimed he was just resting his eyes for a minute. 

46—Charlie never admitted to being in any kind of pain. ”Well, when’s your next appointment?” “Don’t have one,” he said. “Dad, you have to go back, get the stitches out, get the arm looked at.” “Can’t you take out the stitches? It’d be cheaper.” “I’m not a doctor. I’m not a nurse.”...“You come close enough for me.” ”I’m not insured now...The premiums were so frickin’ expensive, and then with the deductible it wasn’t worth it...” 130—Eliza told him...about the clinic. “No, Eliza.” “Even if you’re not selected for this trial, Dad, they can do the chemo from there, or radiation, however they decide to treat it. I’d just really like to see you at a hospital with a research focus...”No. Not interested, Eliza.” 64—her father would rather sleep on porcupine quills than go to the doctor. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 340—“The last time he saw a doctor was the day he was born,” he continued. “It’s a point of pride with him.” 178-179—“I’ve got to get you to a hospital,” I said, more to myself than to him. “No,” he exhaled weakly, garbling his words. “Hospital.” 9—Our health insurance was the first to slide 162—but when we had to cancel our health insurance...we lost our health insurance” 368—King...adamantly refused to use the cane Sonny got for him...But he continued to maintain that there was nothing wrong with him and refused to see a doctor despite urging from Regina and Sonny. He was just a little stiff and pale from being off the water for so long, he maintained.

50—Mary’s math teacher...had by April of her senior year noticed that Mary was slipping in her grades and forgetting to turn in her homework SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 12—my talent lies....CPA 35—I loved to read and puzzle out equations. My teacher thought I should skip third grade 36—By spring, my teacher no longer recommended that I skip a grade...“Or my teacher won’t let me skip a grade” 117—a trigonometry teacher who’d urged me to take advanced placement classes

52—And Mary, who had never been on an actual date before. 99—A real date! SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 101—“It’s not like a real date or anything” 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,”

53, 101—warning bells were all going off one after another in her brain. 55—the warning bells...Warning bells  NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 146—alarm bells went off in my head. 336—Alarm bells went off in my head. 

53—”You want to do something tonight, something besides this? I came over here after work. I put on this dress, I thought maybe we could—” This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 102—Where was the small talk and dinner and movie? My mother’s soaps had taught me how to act under those circumstances, but things weren’t going according to the script.

55—”Happy now?” IDENTICAL TO 183—”Happy now?”

56—Eliza’s dad was a gruff, taciturn specimen of a man. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 194—he said, gruffly 28—My father was even more taciturn.

57—it became a habit, moving the coin from his pocket to his dresser each night SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 233—He emptied his pockets, dumped his change in a glass jar on the dresser

58—the envelope tattooed with foreign stamps SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 361—the envelopes...the exotic-looking stamps from Hong Kong and Sao Paulo

 59—the “casual drink” Eliza had had with the boyfriend when she’d first arrived. the way she’d worked it into their only conversation, scrupulously careful to make it sound like no big deal. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 252—Ordinarily, I would have mentioned Donnie’s [casual drink] visits to Sonny, but I didn’t, rationalizing that, after all, there was nothing to tell.

62—For the girls hauling traps with a tourist activity, a quaint, temporary glimpse into a bygone world. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 423—Midwestern tourists seeking “local color.” Would they be so charmed by the quaintness of a bygone era

64—Eliza tore open a kitchen drawer...a sheaf of folded papers that she pulled out anyway, partly because she was a confirmed snooper...How extremely odd; her father had somebody else’s medical report in the junk drawer in his kitchen...Eliza looked more carefully at the paper. It was dated April 12. Patient’s name: Charlie Sargent. But that couldn’t be right; her father would rather sleep on porcupine quills than go to the doctor. Insurance: None...She turned to the next page, which was the results of a CT scan, and which contained these words, which Eliza had to read three times to make sure she’d gotten them right SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 360—I grabbed the envelopes and started tearing them open, 183—I picked up the mail from the kitchen table and leafed through it...until I was holding the hospital bill. It was addressed to King, not Sonny, which confused me momentarily since he was the one who’d been treated until I remembered that King had filled out all the forms and signed him in. I had no business opening it. Still, I was tempted. I told myself that because he’d agreed to arrange for health insurance with our jobs there might be a co-pay that he’d deduct from our wages, and I wanted to be prepared. I was rationalizing, I knew, but couldn’t help myself. I slipped a fingernail under the flap and unfolded the bill. I swiftly scanned the breakdown for various services—ambulance, X-rays, doctor’s fees, hospital room—to the total: $3,802.50. My eyes rounded. I gasped. It was even more than I’d expected. I scanned the bill again, searching, praying for some mention of an insurance deductible. At the bottom I found a space for the name of an insurance company. It was blank. 368—But he continued to maintain that there was nothing wrong with him and refused to see a doctor despite urging from Regina and Sonny. He was just a little stiff and pale from being off the water for so long, he maintained.

44—She...tried to recall everything she’d learned about concussions in med school. 170—-”Eliza would have made an amazing doctor.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 157—Aspen...was set on becoming a doctor and entering college in the fall.

 66—Suggestive of occipital glioblastoma multiforme, left lobe. Payment: Out of pocket, MasterCard, Valerie Beals. Now the words were swimming in front of Eliza...”I don’t understand. A glioblastoma multiforme is a brain tumor.” She looked down at the paper again. Immediate follow-up recommended...”A gliobastoma, Val, is an incurable brain tumor.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 230—without a medical professional to interpret the lab numbers she didn’t know how much sense they would make...The numbers and what they measured—lymphocytes, agglutination...And the few I recognized—platelet count, hematocrit—made no sense without norms for comparison.  230—male sperm was measured, in...motility, morphology, and agglutination 183—At the bottom I found a space for the name of an insurance company. It was blank. Next to it was a line that read: “Party Responsible for Payment” with King’s large, bold signature above it.

66—”Eliza, honey, Your father is sick.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 339—someone in the family was very, very sick 340—I told Sonny the next day [his father was sick].

66—folded her hands as if in prayer SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 74—I was overcome with the urge to clasp my hands together, bow my head, and say grace although whether in thankfulness or prayer I didn’t know.

66—”Charlie wasn’t feeling right for a while, for a good long time, but of course you know him, he wouldn’t admit to it...Charlie...looked stoically ahead. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 80—farm families are a notoriously stoic lot. 368—But he continued to maintain that there was nothing wrong with him and refused to see a doctor despite urging from Regina and Sonny. He was just a little stiff and pale from being off the water for so long.

73—her brain kept repeating the words He’s sick he’s sick he’s sick over and over. Tumor tumor tumor went the little voice in her head. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 417—Not Sonny, not Sonny, not Sonny, I silently prayed over and over.

73—”Am I babbling?...I do that when I’m trying to keep my mind off something.”...Cancer cancer cancer SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 397—I chattered on...I blathered on...I had it in my mind that if I kept up a steady stream of talk I could keep him from talking. 338—The C-word leapt to mind

76—He hadn’t forgiven her. Not then. She wasn’t even sure he’d forgiven her by now. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 349-350—It’s all in the past. I forgive you.”...“The truth is I forgave you months ago.”... “Oh, thank you,”...for forgiving me.”

76—”And there’s a lot to be said for growing up in a place where everybody knows everybody”  IDENTICAL TO 96—Everyone knew everyone [on island]

78—Eliza took a deep breath and watched as the skiff grew closer and closer and she steeled herself for what was to come. IDENTICAL TO 186—a tiny white triangle [sail] emerge from the darkness. As I watched, it gradually grew bigger. 182—I steeled myself 329—I steeled myself.

79—The lady at the clinic reception desk...She hadn’t eaten anything, either, an her stomach complained about that. Loudly. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 170—a nurse pushed aside the frosted glass partition 168—I had been instructed not to eat anything for ten hours prior to the procedure so skipped breakfast...by the time they called my name I’d passed through the gnawing hunger stage.

79-80—”there’s bunch of forms the first visit”...It was your basic form: name, address, date of birth, previous health conditions, etc., etc. Date of last period. Reason for today’s visit...Pregnant, Mary wrote miserably...”We’ll have you take a pregnancy test in just a minute.”...These were the questions:..Mary was blushing madly by the end...When she was done with the questions Sarah sent Mary into a nearby bathroom with a cup and instructions. “To collect your urine,” she said...When she was done she placed the cup in the little window...Even though Mary knew this already she realized that she’d been hoping for the test to prove her wrong. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 167—all of us bent over clipboards filling out detailed medical histories 414—I fished around in my bag for the clinic form. It...asked for much of the same information: a breakdown of monthly bills and expenditures, outstanding debt on loans, credit cards, cars, medical bills, assets in stocks, bonds, retirement accounts, life insurance, mortgage. The last questions were more personal: age 15—aunt Amy, a family planning counselor 158—Amy’s clinic had expanded from promoting birth control among teens 200—medical clinic out on Rowe Boulevard.”...“Isn’t that the one that does...abortions?” Ada whispered...I knew the clinic they were talking about. My former gynecologist’s office was in the same complex. “I’ve heard,” I said, quietly. “That they also do pregnancy tests” 340—I’d picked up a pregnancy test kit. My urine turned the little wand bright blue 168—a nurse...handed him a plastic container and pointed down the hall. My ears caught a whispered “deposit.”

81—Mary had lately been avoiding Josh. She had it in her mind that after this appointment things would somehow change, that she’d be able to tell him, or that the need to tell him would magically have disappeared. When he showed up at the cafe, Mary ducked into the bathroom and asked Daphne to tell him she wasn’t working that day. If he came to her house she planned to turn off all the lights and hide under the covers. IDENTICAL TO 107—I managed to duck him for the rest of the week. I even feigned an upset stomach to get out of going to church...I even feigned an upset stomach to get out of going to church...That night Don crouched outside my window and pinged pebbles off the glass for hours while I pretended to be asleep 122—I had it in my mind 134—I had it in my mind to 399—I had it in my mind 349—I foolishly expected Don and Peter to disappear 356—and, magically, I was able to put it all behind me. 113—I managed to skirt Peter the same way I had Don the summer before—hiding out, feigning illness 341—I hadn’t told him about my pregnancy.

85—her T-shirt was so thin and tight you could see her belly button and her toned ab muscles. Mary felt a powerful spasm of envy. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 413—Next to their skimpy clothes and taught skin I felt impossibly old.

85—How could she be so hungry and nauseous [sic] at the same time? NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 35—I was starved but too nauseated to choke down a bedtime snack.

87, 103—He tented his fingers and nodded kindly. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 170—He leaned forward and tented his hands together.

91—She didn’t feel reasonable. She felt that signing the documents was akin to signing over her children completely to Judith’s world, to Rob’s world. Nothing would be left of Eliza’s world, nothing at all! She wanted to cry and stamp her feet like a child...all vestiges of Eliza, of Little Harbor, of the boats and the wharf and the traps, of the little house Eliza had grown up in...would be gone NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 22—But I didn’t want to be reasonable. 321—At what cost? His faith in the bay? His father? If they were rendered worthless, he might gain a future but he’d lose his past and with it part of himself. 134—I stamped my foot like a child. 299—”All this”—he gestured wide—“all this will be gone.”

91—Eliza had been gone from Barton a week, but by the time she got home it felt like much longer. It was like living in a time warp, being back in Little Harbor. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 340—Although the farm wasn’t far, it was a world apart, and two days away made it seem as if I’d been gone a long time.

94—What a big deal it had been for someone from her tiny rural high school to get into an Ivy. It had literally never happened before. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 104—But first he was going to college. He’d be the first person in his family ever to do so and he was enormously proud of himself. He had picked Columbia [University] 319—”First one in the family to graduate from high school, first one to go to college, first one to leave the shore.”

103—Eliza knew that nobody could ever replace her own mother, but still. It would be nice if [mother-in-law] Judith tried to step into the role every now and then. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 149—I would have preferred to call her “Mom” but she never invited me to and corrected me whenever I did. Yet I realized that was what I secretly wanted. Having missed out on mothering from my own mother, I had approached her in the hope that my mother-in-law might offer me a second chance. But despite my passivity and implicit requests for guidance and nurturing, Regina never rose to the occasion.

113—at the clinic who saw dozens of teens a day or a week. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 15—aunt Amy, a family planning counselor 158—Amy’s clinic had expanded from promoting birth control among teens

116—she saw that the muscles around his jaw were flexing and releasing SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 176—I could see the shadows on his cheek shift as his jaw clenched.

135—”Hey, Eliza. You up for hauling with me tomorrow?...I need a sternman for tomorrow.”  “Okay,” Eliza said, a little frisson of excitement bubbling up despite herself. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 302—”Hey, Dad...How’d you like to captain the trawler?” 257—With only Sonny left to crew for him, King reluctantly enlisted me. 326—In spite of myself, my ten-year-old heart leapt at the chance to work alongside him again.

135—The key was in the ignition already—they all were, same as they were in all of the pickup trucks parked at the wharf. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 96—no one even bothered to lock their doors. 105—King kept a truck parked at Arster Point [wharf]. 

139-140—Russell reached over the starboard side with his gaff and his hook, grabbed the pot warp, then pulled the line from the water to run it through the hauling block and into the hydraulic hauler. The line coiled itself on the deck below the hauler. The line strained, and they both looked respectfully into the inscrutable green-black of the water until the trap broke the surface...Same motion, over and over: pull the traps over the rail, check, empty. Measure the lobsters, toss back the small ones..Take care with the shedders. Rebait, lower it back down, same thing again and again...another trap over the gunwale SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 126—Sonny and I pulled on orange oilskins and heavy black rubber work gloves. 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. I was as tall as he was...my arms nearly as strong...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. 93—he attached a rolling steel bar to the port hull, baited hooks dangling from a mile-long trotline that rolled up and over a bar while we scooped up hardshell crabs, then re-baited each hook again before it plunged back into the water. 242—She spent all day on the water emptying and re-baiting crab pots.

139—Russell’s was the same body it had always been, log, lean, muscle piled on muscle layer over bone. Unselfconsciously strong. Different from Rob’s body. Russell had dark hair and dark eyes. Rob was fair with light eyes; it was almost like she sought out Russell’s opposite in every possible way. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 271—Peter was different; his body, his touch, the way he moved all stood out in marked contrast to Sonny...Physically, they couldn’t have been more different. 306—he was as distinct from Peter as Peter was from Sonny. His...touch...couldn’t have been more different...These distinction were made manifest by his body, which was a study in contrasts to his brothers. Whereas Peter was thin and wiry and Sonny was broad and muscular, Don was soft and stocky. Later, I would wonder if these distinctions allowed me to see my affair with Don, as I did with Peter, as separate, a thing apart from what I had with Sonny.

140—a fisherman’s tan NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 32—He had what I would later learn was a “farmer’s tattoo” marked by gradations of color from his pale forehead to his deeply tanned neck.

144—Russell had been...listening in on the VHF all along. Occasionally he chimed in, ribbing one of the guys, making a comment about the catch or the weather. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 208—two-way radio...I left it on all the time...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.

146—that easy camaraderie of men and women just off the water, the way they talked about the day’s catch and the weather that had just blown through and the weather that was coming up next. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 155—hanging around the docks swapping gossip with vendors...I missed the camaraderie, the sense of belonging that came from the steady stream of chatter in voices 257—were hanging out on the wharf comparing catch numbers and bushel prices with other watermen. 156—Always the talk was of the weather  

148—The truck directly in her view had a bumper sticker that said f**k THE WHALES AND SAVE THE FISHERMEN. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 208—T-shirts and baseball caps that read...“SAVE THE BAY” and the backlash version…”PAVE THE BAY.”

154—She was old enough for the truth, and yet still he wanted to keep it from her. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 136—I had to spare him this, that from now on I’d have to keep the ugly truth to myself. 239—I’d also resolved to spare him the ugly truth.

156—It wasn’t really a question...but Eliza answered it like one. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 358—It wasn’t a question. 332—He didn’t expect an answer, but I wanted to give one. 205–It was a rhetorical question...He didn’t really expect an answer, but Don launched into one.

156—That’s when Eliza made her mistake: she laughed...Looking back later she saw that’s when it all went downhill. She didn’t know it immediately. But she should have seen it NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 398—Looking back, I see that I should have laughed. I should have laughingly brushed off his question...and things would have ended then and there. But I didn’t...Later, I would wonder why I had reacted as I did...only managed to dig myself in deeper.

160—Now, she felt a door in her mind unhinge, and from it tiptoed a thought that she couldn’t quite capture. It slithered away from her, herring-slick. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 279—the question that had been nagging at me all evening...I kept reaching for it but it remained stubbornly elusive and frustrated my attempts to...make the connection.

163—”It’s so funny being back here. It feels like I never left.” “But you did.” A new note crept into Russell’s voice. It almost sounded...accusatory. And also a little wounded. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 89—It was as it I’d never left. 107—And indeed, when I returned to the farm it was like I’d never left 194—”It’ll be like he never left.” 159—He didn’t want her going away to college. 305—“You went away to college, remember?” 302—An ominous current coursed through his words and, running beneath it, a wounded undertow. 397—There was a challenging note in his voice. 349—You’re still smarting. I guess coming back into your life has reopened old wounds

164—Eliza...threw up...a lifetime of confusion and pain. When she was done, when her humiliation was complete and her insides were empty. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 91—I vomited into the dust at my feet as if my body were trying to turn purge itself of all the pain it had absorbed.

171—I. Get. It. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 400—“I. Am. Home.”

175—She said...almost kindly, like a teacher explaining something o one of the slower students in the class. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 129—he said in a gently reprimanding tone as though to a slow-witted child.

176—She was trying to make her voice sound uninterested. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 351—I tried to make my voice sound casual

178—“I haven’t told him.” “You haven’t told him? What do you mean?” “I mean, I haven’t had a chance.” “Mary. You need to.” “I know.” “If you don’t tell him, I will. Somebody needs to make sure that he—” “Don’t, Mom. Don’t.” “Mary...you’re going to have to go to a clinic...” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 355—“It’s just that I haven’t told Sonny yet,” 352—”You haven’t told him, have you?” 358—“why not tell him?” 357—“Someone is going to have to provide.” 352—“Do you want me to.”...I looked quickly at him. “No!” I nearly shouted 356—”There’s always the clinic’s program.”      

186—The second those words hit the air he regretted them. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 331—The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. 328—Now that they were out of my mouth, the words sounded so bald that I had an impulse to take them back.

189—Eliza felt like Mary had slapped her. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 51—Instantly, her cheeks colored as if she’d been slapped.

191—”where’s the father in all this?” Mary said, “I haven’t told him. So he isn’t anywhere in this, yet.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 158—And…and…what about the father? Does he know?” 341—I hadn’t told him about my pregnancy.

191—Family planning, said the sign. Prenatal care. NEARLY IDENTICAL 15—a family planning counselor 158—Her prenatal program. 

197-198—”Are you going to tell Eliza?” “Nooooo. Are you going to tell Eliza?” “No.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 352—“You haven’t told him, have you?”...“Do you want me to.”...I looked quickly at him. “No!” I nearly shouted.

199—How little Deirdre knew about him, after all! NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 401—How little you know me, I thought.

207—”Like I didn’t deserve it all, like I had to pay the price.” NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 307—deep down he was undeserving. 57—it was a high price to pay. 172—Sacrificing it would be a small price to pay. 420—she felt she no longer deserved to be happy.  

207—”Do you wish—do you wish we had done things differently?” “Yeah,” he said. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 420—I couldn’t help but wonder how all of our lives might have turned out differently 84—wondering how my life might have turned out differently

207—Eliza reread her mother’s letter a dozen times a week, wearing the paper down so that it felt like suede. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 16—It’s [a list] a worn testament...The ink has faded and where the sheet was folded and unfolded dozens of times the paper is creased and thin

210—He...put the beer bottle on the table, hard, so she jumped. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 234—He slammed the clock down on the table with a bang. I jumped. 63—the door, slamming it behind him. I jumped.

218—she stood, surveying the cafe the way a farmer might survey his fields, with a certain pride of ownership and the satisfaction of a job well done. A sensation came over her that was so pleasant...Then she realized that for the first time since she’d taken the pregnancy test the future stretched out before her in a way that didn’t look like something she had to be afraid of. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 52-53—a new, unfamiliar sense of competence infused me. As I gazed around I realized with astonishment that all the fields as far as I could see bore my imprint. I’d prepared, planted, and harvested every acre of this half-section...A nearly dizzying sense of pride came over me. 240—”the future. It’s still out there.” 350—Sonny and I—and now the baby—would have a secure future in the new order.

218—She imagined...her body curled protectively around him [baby]. Or her! Either one would be fine. STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 48—“Mom, when can I have a baby sister?” I asked...“Or brother,” I added hastily to show I wasn’t choosy.

221-223—there was a stream of blood coming from his nose...he stomped his foot—he stomped his foot, like a child!...she felt weak enough that she had to grip the counter again. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 400—Don was bent over the sink, blood streaming from his nose. 134—I stamped my foot like a child. 278—My arms darted out and latched onto the sink to steady myself. 

223—she felt like those two words were an embrace. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 366—Their words seemed to linger in the air enveloping us in their cushiony embrace.

226—Her legs were shaky and her breathing was still a little bit unsteady NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 232—Beneath me, my legs felt shaky...Lightheaded, I lurched unsteadily for the door.

226—Charlie made a motion like a zipper closing up his lips. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 355—She...mimed zipping her mouth closed. 

240—”I know it’s always bothered you, how much we take from my mother.” She let the weight of that settle around her. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 168—“forging our own future independent of King.” 417—Sonny...lifelong dependence on his father. 358—The full weight of my dilemma settled on my shoulders.

244—”We should be independent...It’s the right thing.” STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 166—“I meant what about reclaiming our independence?” 168—“I was talking about forging our own future independent of King.” 303—He’d have his independence

251-253—Then all the rage and hurt and resentment and...fear bubbled to the surface, and while what Mary said next surprised her, it also made her feel good, and satisfied, and self-righteous. She said, “I need a mom.”...Mary felt like something had loosened inside of her, and words came out all in a rush...“I just want you to be a mom...I just need a mom.” NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 235—I could hear the resentment in my voice burbling to the surface. 149—Regina never fully inhabited a maternal role while her children were growing up...I would have preferred to call her “Mom” but she never invited me to and corrected me whenever I did. Yet I realized that was what I secretly wanted. Having missed out on mothering from my own mother, I had approached her in the hopes that my mother-in-law might offer me a second chance. 28—I said in a rush. 188—King’s words came in a rush.

253—Suddenly the silence in the shop was so aggressive that you could have heard a bobby pin drop. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 219—The silence in the room was explosive.

253—She willed Vivienne to leave...she started to cry softly, and a tear landed right on Mary’s cheek and she had to try really hard not to wipe it away. She fought the urge. NEARLY IDENTICAL 308—willing him to leave quietly. 66—I willed my eyes to open. 130—I willed him to put his foot on 406—I...willing it to tell me what to do. 416—Tears streaked down my cheeks faster than I could wipe them away, falling onto Andy’s forehead and down over his smooth scalp. 86—I fought the urge to wipe it off.

253—She’d be eighteen...she wouldn’t need anyone’s permission. But she’d have to get a ride. She’d have to take the day off from work. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 117—“You’re eighteen,” I said. “Legally, that makes you a man in this state, doesn’t it?” 165—We had to borrow King’s truck and beg a day off.

266—There was a flicker of blue light that meant the TV was on. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 175—the...unearthly, flickering blue light of television screens.

268—She told him all sorts of things, things she’d never told anyone. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 168—things I’d never shared with anyone.

272—it seemed like Charlie was fading in and out of sleep. IDENTICAL TO 409—[King] drifted in and out of sleep throughout the day.

275—Rob wanted to...stamp his feet like the little boy he’d once been. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 134—I stamped my foot like a child.

288—”and suddenly it felt like a punch.” SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 403—as if he’d been sucker punched.

294—five-pound-and-eight-ounce Zoe first entered the world, and...when she had a breathing tube taped inside her nostrils. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 44—Wes had...weighed only three pounds at birth. He spent his first couple of months of life in a plastic incubator connected to the world through tiny tubes taped over his nostrils. 408—The ease with which he [baby] came into the world

303—It became impossible to tell the sky from the water. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 268—all was blackness. No horizon line separated the inky water from the night sky.

306—Eliza...concentrated on the car in front of her. The car had Maryland plates and she could just make out the words TREASURE THE CHESAPEAKE. SUBSTANTIALLY SIMILAR TO 336—The car in front of me was a station wagon. 328—I was reminded of a common bumper sticker back home with the words “SAVE THE BAY.”

319—She turned toward the living room, half expecting to see her father in the recliner STRIKINGLY SIMILAR TO 414—the empty La-Z-Boy [recliner] that still bore the impression of King’s body—[I] anticipated their presence everywhere else 428—I circled around to the front half-expecting to meet him

323—But the rules were far too ingrained in her; she couldn’t break them. “I can’t...It’s the law. The law is sacred out here.” NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 144—“Got to,” he muttered over his shoulder. “It’s the law.” “It doesn’t matter whether I agree or not. According to the law—”

324—From here to there, from that to this. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 284—from there to here, cause to effect, past to present.

327—Her next sentence came out in a rush. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 26—I said in a rush. 186—King’s words came in a rush.

337—teaching her to do the bookkeeping. NEARLY IDENTICAL TO 8—I went back over the books 9—I kept the books 24—we went over the books together?”...my bookkeeping 26—“Gail can keep the books” 323—I’d been drawn to bookkeeping.