Peter M Browne

Oh, Nantucket Peter M Browne

Nantucket is an island with many identities and as many stories; home to the indigenous people, the Wampanoag, whaling port in the 17th and 18th centuries (Moby Dick), home of the world's largest cranberry bog, an iconic summer resort for the rich and famous, but there is another story, yet untold. Oh, Nantucket is more than a love story. It is a lives story. So many lives... It brings into focus Danny Montiero's individual struggle to find his place, surrounded by a community wrestling to prevail over artificially imposed conditions, some self-inflicted. It exposes the humanity of a people whose identity has been obscured by labels, bigotry, and an indifferent universe. The Cape Verde Islands and the Cape Verdean people have a long history of pain, suffering, and sorrow that spans centuries. There is one word, in their language, that captures the reflection of their circumstances, "Sodade", a longing, a yearning, a searching for home, for opportunity, for life itself. Like Brant Point lighthouse, at the entrance of Nantucket harbor, Oh, Nantucket casts a light across its shores, providing us a view of this island through a different lens.