CAPE ELIZABETH, Maine — When Scot Lehigh, a longtime reporter and columnist for the Boston Globe, started working on his first novel, one decision came easily. The story would be set in Eastport, the small city on the far edge of down east Maine where Lehigh lived from the age of 11 until he finished school.
What interested him about the setting was in part the curious relationship between Eastport and Lubec, which are just a few miles apart by boat but nearly an hour by car.
"They had very little interaction with one another, and I got interested in setting a story that took place in some way in these two communities," he said. "I wanted to get at some themes of choices, searching for identity…and the conflict between staying and feeling like you need to go."
The novel, "Just East of Nowhere" gave Lehigh, who now divides his time between Cape Elizabeth and Boston, a chance to indulge his imagination and make up a story, something he can’t do as a journalist. He found the change refreshing.
"Normally in our jobs you’re watching a politician, trying to figure out what’s really going on," he said. "As an author, you know what’s going on. But you’re trying a little bit to disguise it from the reader to make the story come together and work in a way where you don’t put everything up front."
Now that the book has been published and is making its way into readers’ hands, Lehigh admits to having mixed feelings.
"Satisfaction with having it finally done," he said, "And utter terror about what people will think of it."