Mackinac Island Novels

The Dockporter. He's got a bike, a basket, and a lot of baggage.

It's the summer of 1989. Jack McGuinn is a dockporter, transporting tourists' luggage piled high in the basket of his bike on Mackinac Island, Michigan. It's a summer resort where cars are outlawed and pedal power rules. He's got the season wired tight: a family cottage on the bluff, a dream job, and a loyal crew of hell-raising, tip-hustling buddies. When his old friend turned rival challenges him to ride a record-setting load of luggage, he takes the bet. Soon, he realizes he's not just carrying suitcases; he's carrying the island's future, which is about to be paved over for profit. With the help of his pals on the dock and the love of a romantic, free-spirited Irish cellist named Erin, Jack digs deep to discover skills he didn't know he had.

The Dockporter is an offbeat, nostalgic coming-of age-story that appeals to anyone who ever had a summer job. If Rushmore director Wes Anderson remade Caddyshack, but it emerged as a hybrid of Footloose and Meatballs (and was a book), it would be The Dockporter. Genre-smashing, hilariously fresh, yet refreshingly familiar, a novel about friends, family, love, luggage, and the summers we never forget.

Special note: The Audible edition of The Dockporter is unique: It's read by coauthor and award-winning TV producer Dave McVeigh and is musically scored and sound-designed like a Hollywood movie, complete with authentic sounds of Mackinac Island. No ordinary "book on tape", it's an audio experience that brings you into the story and transports you to one of the most magical places in the world.