Sandy Macfarlane Books
Coastal Resource Specialist

Commercial fishing has never been a glamorous life or trade, despite the attempts by books like The Perfect Storm, The Hungry Ocean, and The Heart of the Sea to bring an appreciation of it into the mainstream. And this newest addition to the commercial fishing tell-all lineup is certainly less sophisticated than some of its predecessors … but since it is about the life and memories of one particular fisherman here on the lower Cape, it has a certain allure for us that they may not.

IPPY Award Winner of Bronze Medal, Best Regional Nonfiction

A book penned by an old antagonist is often a hatchet job, but that’s far from the case when Sandy Macfarlane partnered with Charles “Tiggie” Peluso on the story of his half-century in the fishing business….It’s a page turner. The tome is rich in character and Peluso’s voice is strong.

We knew Sandy Macfarlane could turn a mean phrase about Cape Cod and its salty ways, thanks to her previous book, “Rowing Forward, Looking Back: Shellfish and the Tides of Change at the Elbow of Cape Cod.” She has a way of rendering the language of commercial fishing accessible and realistic. Now, in “Tiggie” the Lure and Lore of Commercial Fishing in New England,” Macfarlane had given us an invaluable look at the men, women, and tgechniques of an era that has virtually disappeared…. Macfarlane steps out of the limelight and gives Tiggie his voice; the two might be oil and water everywhere else but they’ve made a terrific writing team…Tiggie Peluso’s candor and Sandy Macfarlane’s shaping have created a riveting package.