Cap'n Eri is one of three old sea captains who, in need of a housekeeper, advertise for a wife. The humorous complications that ensue, the fresh portrayal of the Cape Cod atmosphere and characters, and passages of convincing realism in an unpretentious but well-told story make the book a best seller.

"The road from Wellmouth Centre to East Wellmouth is not a good one; even in dry weather and daylight it is not that. For the first two miles it winds and twists its sandy way over bare hills, with cranberry swamps and marshy ponds in the hollows between. Then it enters upon a three-mile stretch bordered with scrubby pines and bayberry thickets, climbing at last a final hill to emerge upon the bluff with the ocean at its foot. And, fringing that bluff...

Carey Judson, a square peg in a round hole, returns from Boston to Cape Cod and, eventually, finds his niche.

The story of a feud between two Cape Cod families over a piece of land.

This is a tale of life on a fictionalized Cape Cod. The heroes are bigger than life, the villains are meaner, and the Cape Cod villagers are delightful caricatures of their types.