In this year-long serialized novel set on the Vineyard in real time, a native Islander (“Call me Becca”) returns home after two decades to help her eccentric Uncle Abe keep his landscaping business, Pequot, afloat. Abe has a paranoid hatred of Richard Moby, the chief executive of an off-Island wholesale nursery, Broadway. Convinced that Moby wants to destroy Abe personally, and all Island-based landscaping/nursery businesses generally, Abe is obsessed with “taking down” Moby. A series of failures has done nothing to dissuade him.

EMILY POST: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners. By Laura Claridge. Random House, New York, N.Y. October 2008. 544 pages. $30 hardcover.

Ghost Stories

Holly Mascott Nadler will read spooky excerpts from her new book Vineyard Supernatural: True Ghost Stories from America’s Most Haunted Island, tonight, Friday, Oct. 24, at the Farm Institute in Katama, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. All brave souls are invited to join for a ghostly party, though, due to the spine-tingling potential, this event is not recommended for kids under 10. Cider and cookies will be served.

Alley’s General Store

In times of yore, one humble store

Sustained our tiny town.

‘Twas not the kind where one might find

A fancy evening gown.

Instead, our needs — from nails to seeds —

Were modest as the dickens,

And Nancy Luce had little use

For lipstick on her chickens.

These wooden walls held overalls

To fit most any size;

On Tuesday, Oct. 21, the Vinyard Haven Library Evening Lecture Series will present Bundle Up for the Cold: How to Winterize Your House at 7 p.m. Energy consultant Chris Fried will discuss energy-saving improvements for your home or business. Many improvements cost little and are easy to implement, yet save a lot.

Grant Workshop