Chamberlain, George Agnew "Knoll Island"

A World War 2 homefront story about a Delaware Bay waterman family (Enos and Deb Walker) whose three sons go off to sea as merchant mariners to meet America’s wartime need for seaman. Think of this one – convoluted plot and all – as a cross between Mrs. Miniver and “Ma and Pa Kettle” – with just a touch of Tobacco Road tossed in! Though the homespun talkin’ gits a might tarsome after a spell, Chamberlain’s depiction of the Walkers and their sons does seem heartfelt. The story is of particular interest today for its depiction of an East Coast waterway-focused regional way of life that is now long vanished. Along the way the Walker’s lose one son to enemy action when his ship is sunk, while both other sons are wounded when their respective ships are torpedoed in the North Atlantic. The story climaxes when the youngest son, home on leave, foils a Nazi sabotage effort involving a German midget submarine which had planned to land enemy agents ashore on a deserted New Jersey island near the Walker home (the Nazis were smuggling in German nationals bent on sabotaging major East Coast shipyards). The serial was subsequently published as a book under the same title.