Nana’s Books: The Threatening Fog

Nana’s Books:  The Threatening Fog, by Leon Ware, written in 1952.

Age: 10+

Reminder:  Nana’s Books are rated G.  Anyone could read them, or listen to them being read aloud.

 Particulars (Out of 5):   Positive role models *****   Inappropriate language:  None.  Sexual references:  None.

Eben Tyrell Hall lives on an Air Force base in Texas with his mom and his dad, who is a B-47 squadron commander.  When his dad is injured in a crash, Eben’s mom flies to Germany to be with him, and Eben is sent to live with his mom’s brother, Uncle Silas Tyrell.

His visit does not start out well.  Uncle Silas lives in Rockhaven, Massachusetts, a seafaring town rich in Tyrell family history.  Eben has heard about it all his life – and about his famous ancestor, the first Eben Tyrell, legendary captain of a clipper ship who was so successful that he was known as the Merchant Prince.  There’s even a museum dedicated to him.

Silas, a lobster fisherman, is a good man, but it takes a while to get to know him.  He’s a man of few words, a loner haunted by his past, and he doesn’t exactly fling open the doors and bid Eben a hearty welcome.  Things get a whole lot worse when Eben – who should have saltwater running through his veins – gets terribly seasick.  (Note:  This was in the days before Dramamine.)  Every time he tries to go lobster fishing with Silas, it ends in disaster.  He is a disappointment to Silas.

But Eben never gives in to self-pity.  That first night, alone in his bedroom, “In the dark his eyes felt hot.  He clenched his jaws angrily.  He was here and he’d make the best of it.  He’d do his share of the work, and more, and Uncle Silas wouldn’t have anything to complain about.  He was a Tyrell, sure, but he was a Hall too, and the Halls were tough. Look at his dad.”

As we soon learn, there’s some stuff going on in this sleepy town.  There are odd tensions in Rockhaven, unresolved issues from before Eben’s time.  It turns out that Silas needs Eben, and although Eben will never be a great sea captain, he is a lot more like the Merchant Prince than he thought:  He’s smart, courageous and resourceful.  He starts his own business, makes new friends, rescues some tourists, solves a mystery, deals audaciously with a bully, and changes Silas’s life for the better.  It’s a great book, a mystery, and adventure, and more than that, Eben is just so decent, you’re rooting for him the whole time.

I got my copy used on eBay.  There’s a holder on the front page and a stamped message that “This Book No Longer Belongs to Tensas Parish Library,” in St. Joseph, Louisiana.  The last checkout was May 29, 1980.  Here’s the Amazon link.  It was not at my local library.  There is a new paperback version of this book, but a few months ago I bought a much cheaper version for my son-in-law from The Good and the Beautiful.  My point?  These things fluctuate all the time.  Once you get into looking for good used books, you see this time and again.  Don’t despair!