And Poison Fell From the Sky
A Memoir of Life, Death and Survival in Maine’s Cancer Valley
by Marie Thérèse Martin
Marie Thérèse Martin (Terry) grew up grateful for the paper mill that dominated the economy of her small Maine town. It was only years later, while working as a nurse, that she and her physician husband Joseph Edward “Doc” Martin came to believe that the area’s sky-high rates of lymphoma, pediatric cancer and lung disease were caused by the smoke and chemicals billowing from the mill’s tall stacks both day and night. Together, they sounded an alarm no one wanted to hear — and began a decades-long fight to expose the devil’s bargain the community had struck with the mill, a fight that Terry continued even after Doc himself fell victim to cancer. The book includes a foreword by Kerri Arsenault, author of the book Mill Town, which includes Martin and her husband.
Read this if you liked…
Mill Town by Kerri Arsenault
Still Mill edited by Patricia Smith Ranzoni
Shredding Paper by Michael Hillard
We Were the Kennedy’s by Monica Wood
You Had a Job for Life by Jamie Sayen
When Breath Becomes Life by Paul Kalanithi
This book explores…
Life in rural Maine
Complex relationships
Environmental issues
The healthcare industry
Pulp and paper manufacturing
“Terry’s wisdom, compassion and fortitude are evident in every word she writes.”
— Kerri Arsenault, best-selling author
And Poison Fell From the Sky
Islandport Press
US $18.95 / CAN $21.95
Publication Date: November 8th, 2022
Adult Nonfiction / Memoir
5.5 x 8.5, Softcover
orders@islandportpress.com
Marie Thérèse Beaudet Martin is a Registered Nurse, originally from Rumford Maine. She experienced a life clouded by toxic emissions and saw firsthand the effects of a paper mill town on her community. As a main character in Kerri Arsenault’s 2020 bestseller, Mill Town, Martin was instrumental in the exploration of the area’s toxins and disease, providing primary-source documents and stimulating conversations. Martin is the author of Le Visage de ma Grandmère, a mixed-genre look at Acadian history and cuisine. She now lives in Hartford, has three children and several grandchildren.
A Note from Terry
In a recent publication called Mill Town, Kerri Arsenault used Doc and I as characters in her book. We are also real people who fought issues of genuine concern. I have no numbers or statistics to share, but I have a story.
There are three main characters in my story, each with their own set of conflicts. A family doctor and a nurse who are married to each other and together they discover the harmful relationship between making paper with toxic chemicals and how it spills over and affects the health of the town. The third player is a group of paper mill and hospital executives who, for money and power, are complicit and intent on fooling the town, while the town is busy fooling itself.
In the middle of a hot and humid night with an air inversion so intense I couldn’t see three feet outside my open window, our home was filled with poison air so thick it burned my lungs. I woke up choking and had trouble breathing. In an explosive moment of discovery that would connect this event to the declining health of our patients, the trajectory of our life changed.
We were placed in the middle of a thirty-year controversy with the paper industry, the State of Maine, the rights of workers and the very health and survival of our community. Doc would sound an alarm no one wanted to hear. Singled out as a whistleblower, they would attempt to silence him by smear tactics and to stain his reputation while targeting both of us as punishment for disrupting the status quo. As our personal lives became more abusive, mirroring the abuse of the paper mill, we moved from the center of town to a house on the edge of town.
Doc was then diagnosed with a “mill town” cancer, making the very issues that concerned him, his own.
After he died, I continued the fight with a group of liked-minded women attempting to frame issues involving toxic waste, the health of our community and continued to work towards workable solutions.
With little appetite for environmental change within the community and the paper making industry, nothing changes.
I sold my house, moved away, and wrote my story, “And Poison Fell From the Sky.”
Early Readers Said…
“Martin challenges the reader to understand the confinements of the stereotypes and the price paid to exist in them and to go beyond their power. She emerges victorious, fearlessly, in her pursuit to effect change in the world.”
— Rhea Côté Robbins, writer, artist and Franco-American femme
“In her compelling memoir, Martin struggles with the push and pull between truth and survival — both in her exploration of the mill’s pollution and in her own marriage — and strives to find her voice in a world where narratives are dominated by the powerful, and where turning a blind eye is easier than publicly demanding change.”
— Kerri Arsenault, author of the award-winning Memoir, Mill Town
“This book has an important subject that affects people everywhere -- pollution that affects the health of humans and animals and perhaps poisons part of our planet for eternity. There is more of it than we realize and this is one true story of Rumford, Maine and how a paper mill took a heavy toll on the local population. Industry continues to poison people today.
The author and others knew this and stood up for her neighbors and humanity against the big money of big business and the greed that exceeds imagination in that people are considered disposable.
As well, this is part of Terry's story, and it wasn't good even before she knew she and her family were being poisoned. She is such a resilient soul and we owe people like her and other brave people who speak up and attempt to make things better.”— S. Corbett
Comments…
“And Poison Fell From the Sky should be required reading in Maine’s high schools, both for the evils it describes and for the inspiration it imparts. This reader stands in awe of Martin’s strength, perseverance, bravery and honesty. One marvels at what Maine could become if we had more Terry Martins in our midst, more fearless women willing to challenge the material and spiritual status quos that keep us all bound and gagging. If you’re of a mind to pray, pray her book inspires others to join the good fight.”
— Chris Busby, Mainer News
“Terry is a beautiful warrior wearing pearls”
— Tami Wentworth
“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.”
— Ex Libris Maine
