Beyond the Bright Sea: Chapters 17–28

by Lauren Wolk
As a baby, Crow was discovered in a boat adrift at sea and raised on an isolated island off of Cape Cod. When twelve-year-old Crow spots a fire on a nearby island, once the home of a leper colony, she begins to investigate her own past.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Prologue–Chapter 3, Chapters 4–9, Chapters 10–16, Chapters 17–28, Chapters 29–40
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. wry
    humorously sarcastic or mocking
    Miss Maggie gave him a wry look.
  2. calamity
    an event resulting in great loss and misfortune
    The islanders were used to calamity.
  3. daft
    foolish or mentally irregular
    “I think he was a bit daft. Or he just didn’t understand that I hadn’t been there when the others were. I told him that. I told him again that I didn’t know anything about a nurse or the lepers or anything else about any other humans who had ever lived on Penikese. Period.”
  4. easel
    an upright tripod for displaying something
    The rest of the space was for cooking and sitting, a table and an easel.
  5. solitude
    the state or situation of being alone
    I thought about practicing my sums, but that seemed a poor way to spend this unusual solitude.
  6. lurch
    move abruptly
    A huge sand flea, heavy as a pebble, jumped first onto my chest and then onto my cheek, and I lurched upward, batting it away before it could bite me.
  7. brusquely
    in a blunt direct manner
    “You’d best be along to Miss Maggie’s,” he said brusquely as I hurried to keep up with him.
  8. wisp
    a thin tuft, piece, or amount of something
    She wiped a wisp of hair off her forehead with the back of her hand.
  9. trough
    a long narrow shallow receptacle
    “Of course.” She folded the dirt over a trough of seeds and stood up, dusting off her hands. “There’s no going without him.”
  10. conch
    an edible tropical marine mollusk or its large spiral shell
    He ripped an old conch shell off a hank of dead man’s fingers and tossed it aside.
  11. concoct
    prepare or cook by mixing ingredients
    But if I ever needed anything from the mainland, he sent for it with no fuss at all: pencils for my lessons, a new pair of winter boots when I outgrew the last, a new book now and then, medicine that Miss Maggie could not concoct on her own.
  12. lame
    disabled in the feet or legs
    “Not tomorrow,” she said when I asked if she would go to New Bedford with me. “Cinders has come up lame and I need to stay with her. But maybe in a few days, when she’s better, if Osh will go with us.”
  13. schooner
    sailing vessel used in former times
    As we neared the mouth of New Bedford Harbor, a schooner flying a long green streamer off its mainmast, its sails plump, its bow rising and dipping, came out through the channel toward us.
  14. rig
    formation of masts, spars, sails, etc., on a vessel
    A stranger by now busy with the rigging, all of his thoughts tuned to the sea.
  15. blare
    a loud, harsh, or strident noise
    Miss Maggie had told me about automobiles, and I had seen some pictures of them, but the ones I saw here—their fumes and rumble, the blare of their horns—amazed me.
  16. deckhand
    a member of a ship's crew who performs manual labor
    “You comin’?” a deckhand called to me, and I realized I was the only passenger still aboard.
  17. commotion
    confused movement
    Everyone walked so quickly here, nobody saying much to anyone else, all around them a cloud of commotion.
  18. insubstantial
    lacking material form
    The windows of the shops were full of things I couldn’t imagine ever having, and the reflection of the passersby and the street full of cars made those glimpses of another life seem distant and insubstantial, like dreams.
  19. bustle
    a rapid active commotion
    Here was a city within a city. Bustle and clatter. Sour smells overlaid with alcohol fumes.
  20. overlay
    put something on top of something else
    Here was a city within a city. Bustle and clatter. Sour smells overlaid with alcohol fumes.
  21. ward
    block forming a division of a hospital shared by patients
    “I haven’t worked here long enough to help you,” she said, “but there are a few people in the wards who’ve been here since then.”
  22. furrow
    make or become wrinkled or creased
    She peered at me, her brow furrowed.
  23. formidable
    inspiring fear or dread
    She wasn’t much taller than I was, but she suddenly seemed formidable.
  24. flit
    move along rapidly and lightly; skim or dart
    As I stood there, I thought of the cottage that Osh had built. So small. So crooked. The sound of rain on its roof. The sight of Osh stirring the fire. The amber light it made. The shadows flitting on the walls.
  25. reckon
    expect, believe, or suppose
    “Maine, I reckon,” he said after a moment.
  26. bristle
    have or be thickly covered with or as if with stiff fibers
    A barrel bristled with canes, some with ivory handles.
  27. churn
    be agitated
    I was still as tense as an anchor rope in a current, and my mind churned with all I’d done and seen; but the farther we traveled, the more New Bedford seemed like another world, far away, that couldn’t touch me now.
  28. trestle
    sawhorses used in pairs to support a horizontal tabletop
    So Osh and I sat outside, at the trestle table in the shade of her hornbeam tree, while Miss Maggie made our supper.
  29. yearn
    desire strongly or persistently
    Perhaps that was how those young crows felt as they nestled in their warm and sturdy nest, yearning for the sky.
  30. sprig
    a small branch or stem, usually with leaves or flowers
    Miss Maggie gave us lobster cakes, biscuits, and cool water with sprigs of mint.
  31. interject
    insert between other elements
    Miss Maggie interjected now and then, as was her habit, but Osh listened carefully until I was through.
  32. subdue
    put down by force or intimidation
    As soon as we were done, Mouse crept out of the grasses and attacked a small hole in the soil, dragging out a strand of sea lettuce so she could properly subdue it.
  33. pendant
    an adornment that hangs from a piece of jewelry
    One day he asked me about a necklace I was wearing. Asked me if it was real—real gold, a real ruby in the pendant.
  34. ail
    be unwell
    I told him all about her and our friendship. How brave she was. How hard she worked to help the other patients, no matter how much she herself was ailing.
  35. postscript
    a note appended to a letter after the signature
    But below that was a postscript. And it, too, helped answer a question I’d been asking myself.
  36. spigot
    a regulator for controlling the flow of a liquid
    He looked up, saw me, closed the spigot, and set the pitcher in the sand.
  37. forlorn
    marked by or showing hopelessness
    I put the pitcher on the table and watched the next part of this strange day. Miss Maggie, forlorn as a cold lamb. Osh, looking like he had a bellyache.
  38. deliberate
    unhurried and with care and dignity
    These were the men I feared—the ones who dug and dug and dug—single-minded and deliberate.
  39. surge
    rise and move, as in waves or billows
    “No point looking for her so late in the day,” Osh said as we stood on our little beach one evening, Mouse with us in the long twilight, the sky fading to gray, the empty sea surging past.
  40. kindling
    material for starting a fire
    We kept a bin of driftwood twigs nearby, perfect kindling that caught easily when I lit the paper and blew gently on the flame.
Created on Sun Jan 27 21:16:11 EST 2019 (updated Wed Jan 30 15:21:03 EST 2019)

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