Swimming to the Top of the TideSwimming to the Top of the Tide

"The Great Marsh is the largest continuous stretch of salt marsh in New England, extending from Cape Ann to New Hampshire. Patricia Hanlon and her husband, Robert, built their home and raised their children alongside it. But it is not until the children are grown and they begin to swim the tidal estuary daily that she becomes fully alert to all its elements-animal, botanical, and mineral-and its life cycles. Immersing herself, she experiences, with all her senses in all seasons, the vigor of a place where the two ecosystems of fresh and salt water mix, merge, and create new life. In Swimming to the Top of the Tide, Hanlon lyrically charts her explorations, at once intimate and scientific, of the Great Marsh's tidal channels with their flora and fauna. Noting the disruptions caused by human intervention, she bears witness to the vitality of the watersheds, their essential role in the natural world, and the responsibility of those who love them to contribute to their sustainability"--