Meanwhile, Next Door to the Good Life

It was impossible to hide in the woods of Harborside, Maine, during the 1970s. Impossible, that is, if your humble cabin and 25-acre homestead had neighbors like author Jean Hay Bright had back then. On one side were back-to-the-land gurus Helen and Scott Nearing, authors of "Living the Good Life." On the other side was the young Eliot Coleman, who would later write the highly-popular books, "The New Organic Grower" and "Four Season Harvest."

This book, pieced together over the span of 30 years, will make you laugh, make you cry, and surprise you with its detail (Jean's mom saved her letters) as it recounts the joys and pains of one woman's personal homesteading experience.

In writing this book, Jean also used her investigative reporting skills to examine some long-standing and nagging questions surrounding the Nearings. Her research turned up some surprising and enlightening facts about how Helen and Scott Nearing really lived -- and died.