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A Down East Bluebeard is change of pace for MED author
By Brian Fitzgerald
Over the past several years, Matthew Nugent has published more than 50
papers in scientific journals reporting the findings of his research team.
His latest writing effort, however, is about the search for Captain Bluebeard's
treasure on Timber Island in Maine.
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Matthew Nugent Photo by Fred Sway |
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Has the MED associate professor of biochemistry and ophthalmology forsaken
his research on growth factor molecules and delved headlong into adventure
journalism? Not exactly. His book, The Legend of Timber Island, is a product
of his imagination. Nugent continues to write research papers, but he
has also parlayed his storytelling ability into a couple of children's
books.
In fact, his tall tales have spawned a family business, CBI Press. His
aunt, Ruth Roche, edits the books. His mother, Louise Nugent, draws illustrations
for the stories. His wife, Nancy, manages the publishing company. Have
we left anyone out? Oh yes, their children, Colleen and Brian (CBI stands
for Colleen and Brian Inspired), are his biggest critics, giving him feedback
on his fiction.
Nugent says his children's stories began several years ago during a family
vacation at Goose Rocks Beach in Kennebunkport, Maine. "Colleen,
who had just turned four at the time, always wanted to stay up after her
bedtime," he recalls. "The only way to get her to go to bed
was to tell her a story. But we didn't bring that many books to the beach.
So I would sit beside her and make something up until she'd fall asleep.
Some nights this would take a long time, and as a result, the stories
would become more and more involved."
One night, Colleen was finally lulled to sleep, but Nugent was still awake.
"I decided to write that night's story down, and it became The Legend
of Goose Rocks Beach," he says. A week later, he read it aloud to
the children of some relatives and friends, and he was surprised to find
that they all listened intently to the end. "In fact, they wanted
more," he says.
The Legend of Goose Rocks Beach "is really just a simple little tale,"
says Nugent, "but it reminded me of how much children enjoy being
read to in groups, especially when the story is set in a familiar location."
The book takes place in the early 1800s, when the beach is under the scourge
of the pirate Captain Bluebeard, who attacks the ship of the Timber family,
and makes off with the greatest of the family riches, the Great Pearl
of the North Sea.
The story is not based on local history: Maine is remarkably bereft of
pirate legends. And while Bluebeard has been a main character in well-known
folk tales since the 1500s, most of today's children have never heard
of him. His exploits have virtually disappeared from fairy tale collections
since the 1950s, perhaps because of their violence. Nugent's Bluebeard
is a vicious killer, and in the first book it is assumed that Samuel Timber's
wife, Elizabeth, is one of his victims. The author brings her back as
a mermaid in the second Goose Rocks tale, The Legend of Timber Island.
After her children uncover Bluebeard's buried treasure on the island,
Elizabeth is reunited with the pearl. Flash! She is a woman again with
legs and feet, and is returned to her family.
Why do children like tales of pirates so much? "I think that they're
interested in the concept that there are people who are bad," says
Nugent. "Pirates also cruise around at sea with no rules, and I think
children like that. And once they are convinced that there are no pirates
today, they're relieved.
Children also want to know what happens to people who don't behave right."
Indeed, at the end of the first book Bluebeard is imprisoned for his crimes.
He comes back as a ghost to defend his treasure in the second book, but
he turns out to be harmless -- the Timber kids laugh and walk right through
him to the treasure chest.
Nugent says that there are no hard-and-fast rules to storytelling. Children,
of course, are willing to suspend disbelief to amazing lengths. However,
in the terror department, their preference is mild fright. "They
want a story that's scary, but not too scary," says Nugent. "But
they don't want something that's not scary at all."
Evidently, Nugent's formula is a winner. When he started reading his stories
aloud on Goose Rocks Beach, crowds would gather. "It's become a tradition
each summer on the beach," he says. "People we didn't know started
showing up, and pretty soon I was reading to between 60 and 70 people."
At first, the Nugents printed a few copies of the stories for their friends
and family. Demand for copies was so overwhelming that Nancy Nugent created
a publishing company to print and sell the books. "At the Goose Rocks
Beach General Store alone we sold more than 100 books in six weeks, without
any advertising," says Nugent. "So we decided to expand our
sales efforts. Now we are selling on Amazon.com. We're also looking into
getting the books into some of the big bookstores."
Nugent's third book, The Mystery of the Sinking Sand, recently went to
press. At present, Louise is working on illustrations for the fourth,
Nightmare on Goose Rocks Beach. If you're dying to know the plot of The
Mystery of the Sinking Sand, you can visit www.cbipress.com. As for the
last book, you'll have to wait for an August publication date -- unless
you make the trip up to Goose Rocks Beach and look for Nugent reading
to a rapt crowd. Then, unfold a beach chair, have a seat, and listen to
a sneak preview as the waves crash in the background.
26 April 2002
Boston University
Office of University Relations