The Outermost Season

During the coldest weeks of winter on the Outer Cape, when the year-rounders are hunkered down and trying to stay sane, the towns of Wellfleet and Provincetown might as well be islands north of the Arctic Circle...

Ever-dependable Elsie Bigelow has arrived on a fool’s errand. Pressed by her family in Maine to keep an eye on her dangerously beautiful brother, she has taken a job at a bookstore that involves fronting for the owner’s affairs.

Her life on indefinite hold, Elsie is frustrated and lonely––until a chance encounter with Viveka von Loftenburg, a Swedish Baroness and former starlet of 1970s Italian vampire movies. Vivacious, generous, and altogether outrageous, Viveka is far more cultured than her films would suggest. At turns mystified and fascinated, Elsie jumps into the older Viveka’s welcoming orbit, taking her first steps toward a creative education that stirs long-deferred instincts, but will it be a relationship with a crazy aunt, an artistic mentor or a life-altering love?

“When we took up the challenge posed by the original Provincetown Bookshop to come up with a novel set on the Outer Cape, we were more than aware that the task was a fraught proposition. But we immersed ourselves in stories told by old friends and

“When we took up the challenge posed by the original Provincetown Bookshop to come up with a novel set on the Outer Cape, we were more than aware that the task was a fraught proposition. But we immersed ourselves in stories told by old friends and relatives much closer to the cultures depicted. We made a list of elements to be touched upon, namely: the instinct to find love, community and creative expression amidst the grinding isolation, limited means, and pervasive addictions––all of which are explored further in The Outermost Year. But also the essential outrageousness of P-Town had to be present, even in the coldest patch of the year––hence Viveka von Loftenburg.

As for Hrefna Elsie Bigelow, the novel’s heart and soul, the decision to make her half-Icelandic (and that much more of an outsider) dates back to the original 1999 film project Off Season, where her character as well as Joe, Claire, and Dean’s first emerged. Many of the collaborators on the film were from Scandinavia, including the Icelander Elin P., who was originally going to play Elsie and managed a Maine accent better than most of the American actors in New York. The original Icelandic collaborators are no longer available, but their influence remains––fine-tuned with the help of Olöf Petursdóttir in France.”

Doc Crane