Scent of Lilacs — Dale Cathell

A story of the lasting power of love, told amidst the grandeur of the Atlantic coast from Block Island, Rhode Island, Ocean City and Assateague Island, Maryland and south to the Florida Keys. Hank Gaskins, running to escape the consequences of a barroom fight, attempts to hide in the sword fishing industry of Block Island. There, one summer, he meets a woman who will change his life forever. And then she is gone. Scent of Lilacs is an enduring love story of a relationship between a seafaring man and the woman that captures his heart; it is a tale of a relationship that spans life and death and of the special woman that makes it so. Gaskins goes on to become one of the country's most successful lawyers and businessmen, finding riches, power and prestige almost beyond imagining. In his later years, he returns to Block Island seeking a final reunion with the woman of his dreams and bringing the answer to the mystery of what had happened fifty years before. From the pulpits and dories of the Block Island sword fishing fleet of the 1950s, to the conference rooms of the major law firms and the halls of power in Washington, to the creation of 'Buffington,' Gaskins' famous estate, and a return to the sea, the author spins a tale of the sea and of the land, of love and of tragedy, of a lifetime searching for answers, and the events engendered when the answers are known. A surprising ending to a larger and a longer than life love story.