Downeast

Based on four years of reporting, “a heartfelt portrait of five teenage girls growing up in Maine’s remote and economically depressed Washington County” (Publishers Weekly).

Downeast follows five girls as they come of age in one of the most challenging and geographically isolated regions on the Eastern seaboard. Nestled in Maine’s far northeast corner, Washington County sits an hour’s drive from the famed Acadia National Park. Yet it’s a world away. For Willow, Vivian, Mckenna, Audrey, and Josie—five teenagers caught between tradition and transformation in this remote region—it is home. Gigi Georges traces their journeys of heartbreak and hope in uncertain times, creating a nuanced portrait of rural America with women at its center.

Willow lives in the shadow of an abusive, drug-addicted father and searches for stability through photography and love. Vivian, a gifted writer, feels stifled by her church and town, and struggles to break free without severing family ties. Mckenna is a softball pitching phenom whose passion is the lobster-fishing she learned at her father’s knee. Audrey is a beloved basketball star who earns a coveted college scholarship but questions her chosen path. Josie, a Yale-bound valedictorian, is determined to take the world by storm. 

All five know the pain and joy of life in a region whose rugged beauty and stoicism mask dwindling populations, vanishing job opportunities, and pervasive opioid addiction. As the girls reach adulthood, they discover that despite significant challenges, there is much to celebrate in “the valley of the overlooked.” Their stories remind us of the value of timeless ideals: strength of family and community, reverence for nature’s rule, dignity in cracked hands and muddied shoes, and the enduring power of home.

“[A] remarkable book . . . important, arresting, and engrossing.”—Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Orphan Train