NINA'S VERMEER - A novel set on a Maine Island Nina a precocious girl of 16 graduated from high school at 13. She was cached at eight with an uncle to prevent her stepfather, Karl, from harming her. At 16 she sought out her brother, Ogie, who was living incognito on a Maine island. He had been convicted of kidnapping their mother who Karl kept prisoner and drugged. Ogie escaped using his increasingly powerful mind reading skills. As a watercolor painter he capitalized on the mystery of nothing being known about him. Nina volunteered as a sternman on a lobster boat manned by a grandfather and grandson. She came to see the grandson, Red, had a mind as sharp as hers and they began a loving relationship which culminated in a sensitive caring sexual initiation for both. Renee Liegeois, the school principal, heard Nina speaking French and asked her if she would substitute teach in a French class. He knew she was 16 but was impressed with her maturity. Her students were so entranced and enthusiastic that when the Board of Education fired Renee for hiring a 16 year old to teach, the parents protested. Her results were so good with a math class that the State thought she and Renee cheated until retesting. Ogie pressured a senior administrator to get a pardon which enabled him to renew his relationship with his girlfriend, Sashi. It also forced his stepfather to release their mother. At the end of the school year Nina enters Harvard based on her design of a device to read the molecular history of solid surfaces which could provide the speech of what was said near them. She left Megantic with sadness.
About the Author: Gabriel H. L. Jacobs has worked as both a teacher and a principal, and he started the first French Immersion program in the U.S. Author of When Children Think, Teachers College Press, he is also a photographer of note and a watercolor painter. He has lived on a boat in France, and while living in Maine, he explored the small islands off its coast. He is currently retired and lives on a small island in Washington State, where he rows sculls, sails, volunteers in his local library, teaches a French class, and works as a guest teacher for Goddard College's South Seattle Program. He has a bachelor's degree from Goddard College, a master's degree from Harvard, and a doctorate from Heed University.