Author Shannon M. Parker in her Damariscotta home. Parker’s third novel, “Love & Lobsters,” was published Tuesday, Oct. 1 and is now available. (Courtesy photo)
Whether it’s a friend, family member, or partner, Damariscotta author Shannon M. Parker uses a nautical Midcoast backdrop to foster exploration of what it means to trust and to love in her third novel, “Love & Lobsters.”
Set in Christmas Cove, Parker’s third novel follows female lobsterman Charlie Pinkham. Charlie authors a post about a topic she knows well – lobsters – for her best friend’s blog, and finds that it has gone viral.
In multiple blog posts throughout the novel, Charlie dives into how human behavior mirrors lobster behavior – from displaying trust, to commitment, to love – while, in her personal life, she is met with circumstances where she is challenged, particularly in the same way a lobster might be.
When writing this novel, Parker was guided by a fascination with lobsters and the Maine lobstering industry, as well as a text message from a friend. She said the unexpected conversations that are had “with our best people” can generate the best ideas.
“I was thinking about how lobsters actually act in the wild, in captivity … They don’t mate for life, they don’t walk around holding claws in the ocean, and I just thought, ‘What about that friendship can connect with the reality about lobster behavior?’ and then Charlie kind of came fully formed,” she said.
Parker said she wrote four or five different iterations of the novel between April 2023 and its release on Tuesday, Oct. 1.
While her third novel may just look like a romance book, Parker said it dives into some of the most significant facets of life, specifically the importance of relationships and being part of a community.
“Someone once said to me, ‘The quality of life is measured by the quality of our relationships.’ That’s what I tried to explore,” she said.
Parker said Charlie leans on lobsters to figure out how to commit to a kind of love that she is not familiar with, as she has convinced herself loving someone isn’t in the cards for her even though other types of loving relationships are present in her life.
Copies of “Love & Lobsters,” the third novel by Damariscotta author Shannon M. Parker, sit in front of a tote bag featuring the book’s graphic. The book was released Tuesday, Oct. 1. (Photo courtesy Shannon M. Parker)
“I really started thinking about it, and that’s really not a leap, right,” Parker said. “We have to give over trust to siblings, parents; everybody has to earn our trust. Romantic trust isn’t necessarily different.”
Although Parker has always been interested in words, she said authoring stories was not a vision she had for herself.
“I loved words, and I loved that there were different meanings for words, and context,” she said. “I was fascinated by that, but I never saw myself as a storyteller, ever. It was just a world that just existed beyond anything I could fathom.”
Around 2012, she had “a creativity overload” and pursued writing while raising her children.
“Maybe it was my brain stealing time to do something adult … I can’t say, but these stories would come to me, so I would sit and write them, and steal like late hours of the night, early hours in the morning, and then they started to become bulky, like they had the weight of a novel,” she said.
In March 2016, Simon & Schuster published Parker’s debut novel, “The Girl Who Fell.” The novel follows high school senior Zephyr Doyle, who falls in love with a charming, but manipulative, boy. The book discusses the issue of dating violence.
Parker’s second novel, “The Rattled Bones,” was published by Simon & Schuster in Aug. 2017. The novel centers on Rilla Brae, a 17-year-old lobster boat captain who recently lost her father. While out at sea, Rilla sees a ghostly girl walking along the shores of Malaga Island, a haunting that stays with her throughout the novel.
Having lived in the area for 20 years, Parker is familiar with the everyday life of a Mainer. She said she has had many experiences conversing with Mainers in the lobstering industry and wants readers to get a sense of what coastal Maine looks like “behind the scenes” through her third novel.
“A lobstermen’s village might look different than mine, but it’s the same thing, right? Leaning on community,” she said. “(Mainers) don’t just show up for summer; we show up for each other year round in some of the toughest weather and darkness. There are people just working really hard every day to make Maine a place where so many of us are so grateful to live, and I think that that matters.”
Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop in Damariscotta carries signed copies of “Love & Lobsters.” For more information about the book, go to loveandlobsters.com.
For more information about Parker, go to shannonmparker.com or go to @shannonparkerwrites on Instagram.
