A Place Between the Tides: A Naturalist's Reflections on the Salt Marsh

Based on childhood memory and his naturalist's journals, A Place between the Tides tells the story of Harry Thurston's return to the beloved environment of his boyhood when he moves to the Old Marsh on the bands of the Tidnish River in Nova Scotia. This is the story of the salt marsh, but it is also a personal odyssey, a homecoming for Thurston as a naturalist, culminating in his rediscovery of the bounty of nature where land meets sea.
As a boy, Harry Thurston spent many carefree days on the family's farm on the banks of another Nova Scotia salt marsh, swimming with his mother in the river at high tide, watching the return of tens of thousands of gaspereaux in June, and hiding in the "enfolding green" of the grasses of the marsh. As an adult, Thurston observes the life of the salt marsh from his study window or as he walks or skis through the marsh: a blue heron fishes the marsh pools like a poet searching for the mot juste; a mother fox brings a bloody groundhog pelt to her offspring so that they will learn the smell of prey; a willet throws a lariat of sound around the marsh; a lone harbor seal chugs solemnly along the river.
Throughout the book, Thurston's love of the salt marsh and its creatures shines through. Just as land blends with sea, this is a magical blending of a naturalist's observations and a man's most deeply held memories.