Book review: ‘The Invisible Husband of Frick Island’ by Colleen Oakley

By LARRY BALLWAHN | Wilton

Anders Caldwell was just out of school with a journalism degree, and he had a job; it wasn’t the job he had hoped for, but it was a job. What he was doing was attending school board meetings and writing fluff pieces for the “Daily Telegraph,” a small paper that reported on happenings in the Chesapeake Bay area. His next assignment was the Frick Island Cake Walk. Anders wasn’t too happy about a boat ride, but getting to an island required going on the ferry, and the trip proved uneventful.

The same might have been said about the cake walk, if it wasn’t for the storm, missing the boat back to the mainland, telephoning in his story in, and staying overnight at the motel. Anders’ only new angle on the annual story was the decrease in attendance at the Thursday event (most tourism happened on the weekends). And he had embarrassed himself in front sof a married woman (the one with the invisible husband).

After his cake walk story had been published, he got an email: “You came all the way to Frick Island and missed the biggest story out here. For a reporter, you’re not very observant.” And then he discovered it, he thought; climate change would cause the seas to rise and Frick Island to disappear. What did the islanders think about that? Anders Caldwell would simply have to go back to Frick Island to find out. He was not going back for the Daily Telegraph, but for the podcast that he hoped to build an audience for.

At least in part because in his short-sleeved dress shirt, he looked the part of a Mormon missionary, and everyone was too busy to talk to him. The net result was that at the end of the day, he had gained no local perspective on climate change and its potential effect on Frick Island. He had learned: “On Frick Island, you’re either a From Here or a Come Here. And you’re definitely not a From Here.”

The married woman who had drawn his interest on his first visit to the island was Piper Parrish, the widow of Tom Parrish, who, seemingly anyway, drowned when his crabbing boat sank in a storm. Piper acted as though her husband had returned and the whole town went along with it, greeting the invisible Tom, etc. 

Having no information yet, Anders found himself staying on Frick Island again, but this time at the bed and breakfast rather than the motel. Since Piper worked part time at the B & B, Anders was again reminded why he had been interested in her and why he should interview her. She would know the local perspective on the fate of the island and likely on what actually happened to her husband. Anders’ attempts at interviewing didn’t go well, but he was persistent.

Part of the reason that he was persistent was that his podcasts were gaining listeners. That was in large measure because he was talking more of Piper and the missing Tom, rather than climate change. People on the island wouldn’t hear the podcasts anyway, as they had only dial-up and in one location. Anders would be gone by the time a tower was built to give everyone access.

“The Invisible Husband of Frick Island” is the June selection of the Ontario Public Library book club. See the library website for more information.

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