By Monomoy Light: Nature and Healing in an Island Sanctuary

Cairn, a nature columnist for the Cape Cod Times, spent part of three summers (1993-1995) on Monomoy Island, a wildlife refuge off the coast of Cape Cod. Living in an abandoned lighthouse-keeper's cottage, she took the full measure of this federally designated wilderness area, regular stopover point for migrating birds, home to deer, seals, voles, snakes. She also healed herself emotionally and spiritually, she says, through immersion in nature, but in this beautifully written account she gives only sporadic, tantalizing glimpses of her inner life. We learn that she was born Martha Mulder and changed her name to sever her ties with the past; that her estranged father, a well-to-do Chicago lawyer, was authoritarian (the book opens in 1993 with her visit to his deathbed). She alludes briefly to childhood incest that left deep psychological scars. On Monomoy, healing and self-transcendence arise as she communes intensely with creatures eking out a living in the sand, sun, tides and rain. This produces shimmering, exquisite prose that offers a lyric meditation on what it means to be human and our place in nature, but is a lot less satisfying as a record of personal transformation. Seamlessly fusing ecology, history, archeology and naturalist observation, Cairn examines Monomoyick Indians' early contacts with European explorers and settlers; conjures up now vanished Whitewash Village, a once thriving 19th-century fishing port on the island; recounts shipwrecks and heroic rescues; and explores myths, lore and legends surrounding animals. She also evenhandedly reviews the simmering controversy pitting environmentalists and local residents against federal wildlife officials who exterminated aggressive gulls and coyotes in an effort to preserve species biodiversity. (May)