The run

The book invites listeners on a quiet, observant journey that begins in early March, when the first alewives brave cold waters to surge up the modest Herring Run in Brewster. The narrator sketches the river’s old mills, cranberry‑bog valleys and tidal marshes, weaving together natural history, personal curiosity, and the slow rhythm of a fishway’s concrete ladders that guide the silver‑scaled travelers upstream.

Through clear, reflective prose the author treats the alewife’s migration as a mirror for our own searches for meaning, noting how these unassuming herring connect sea and fresh water, past and present. The early chapters blend careful scientific notes with anecdotes about local research, offering listeners a sense of place and the subtle wonder of watching a species move in concert with the seasons, without revealing the later twists of the story.