Shore Stories: An Anthology of the Jersey Shore

The New Jersey Shore is one of the nation's most familiar stretches of sand, and it attracts millions of visitors — including some of the nation's finest writers. Shore Stories takes the reader on a literary journey along this coast — from Sandy Hook to Long Beach Island to Ocean City and Wildwood and all the familiar shore towns, beaches, boardwalks and bays; to the old and the new Atlantic City and to Victorian Cape May. These are places dear to the hearts of millions for whom summer at the Jersey Shore is a tradition.

Shore Stories is the first book to capture in depth the diversity and the emotions attached to this beloved stretch of coastline. More than forty short stories, essays and poems, along with 47 photographs in seven galleries, chronicle this renowned region. The forty-four contributors include nationally celebrated authors (John McPhee, Gay Talese, and Robert Pinksy, among others) as well as talented regional writers whose work promises future acclaim.

This book is a great summer beach read. But it is also a book that transplants one to the Jersey Shore, in any season, whether the reader is in the suburbs or the city or on another coast time zones away. And it serves as a cultural reference and resource.

"This book is a capsule of our lives on the Shore over the years of our now-fading century ... Savor this handsome volume of new and old prose and poetry that treats the Jersey Shore from Sandy Hook to Cape May." — The Star-Ledger, front page "Today" section review, 7/27/98
"A wonderfully evocative assortment of fiction, essays, poems and photographs... Shore Stories is a good book for reading at the beach. It’s an even better book to take home with you, along with the sand on the car floor and the seashells in your pocket, as a wonderful reminder of a wondrous place — the shore". — The Beachcomber, Long Beach Island, NJ, 8/8/98
"A compelling, evocative collection of shore stories, essays and poems...What comes across loud and clear from each selection is the unmistakable ring of authenticity." —The Asbury Park Press
"It’s hard to imagine a reader who will not find something to delight in, and that pleasure will not be restricted to those familiar with the Jersey Shore." — The Trenton Times