The Country of the Pointed Firs: (Annotated Edition)

The novella and related stories are told by an anonymous female narrator who travels one summer to the village of Dunnet Landing to work on an unspecified writing project. Dunnet is located on the coast of Maine and its main industry is shipping, although this industry has been in decline for several decades. The narrator boards with Mrs. Almira Todd, a widow who makes and sells herbal medicine. Mrs. Todd becomes the narrator's closest friend and guide to the village.The narrator uses a vacant schoolhouse for her office. One day, she watches a funeral procession from there. The funeral is for Mrs. Begg, a respected village matron. On his way home from the funeral, the shy and eccentric Captain Littlepage stops by. He tells the narrator stories about his time as a sea captain. One of these is a story he heard from an old colleague, Gaffet, who claims to have seen a supernatural town while sailing in the Arctic. Gaffet speculated that this town was a 'waiting-place' between this life and the afterlife.