And Poison Fell from the Sky: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Survival in Maine’s Cancer Valley

Description

Marie Thérèse “Terry” Martin grew up grateful for the paper mill that dominated the economy of her small Maine town, providing jobs for hundreds of local workers. But years later, while working as a nurse, she and her physician husband “Doc” Martin came to fear that the area’s sky-high cancer rates were caused by the smoke and chemicals that relentlessly billowed from the mill’s stacks. Together, they sounded an alarm no one wanted to hear and began a long, and often bitter, fight to expose the devil’s bargain their hometown had struck with the mill. Through it all, Terry waged a more private battle. This one against domestic abuse, as she tried to reconcile the duality of her husband’s personality—the fearless crusader for good in public versus the controlling, verbally abusive partner behind closed doors.