“Happy Place” by Emily Henry, one of the bestsellers of the summer, casts former fiancés together for a week in a fictional Maine town called Knott’s Harbor. The writer, who wouldn’t answer questions this summer about the inspiration for the book, has said her settings are typically an amalgam of her favorite places, and any reader familiar with the Midcoast could find myriad spots that might have inspired the imagined ones in this rom-com. Kate Norton, who blazed through the book in one sitting and works as a bookseller at Sherman’s in Boothbay Harbor, pointed out the happy places that came to her mind as a local while she read Henry’s latest.
Sherman’s Maine Coast Book Shop could be Murder, She Read, where Harriet always stocks up on cozy mysteries. “I’ve never finished a chapter on one of these trips, let alone a book, but I’ve always loved coming here, picking out my next read,” the character says.
The Warm Cup in Knott’s Harbor has a walk-up order window just like Red Cup Coffeehouse in real life. “’What’s one thing you’ll miss about these trips?’ Cleo asks. ‘The Warm Cup,’ Parth says. ‘I love walking down to get coffee while it’s still cool and gray out and the streets are empty.’”
For Fudge & Taffy Factory and Skippy’s Popcorn “with its hundred different flavors on display behind the glass,” there’s Downeast Candies, also known as Daffy Taffy & Fudge Factory, and Coastal Maine Popcorn Co.
Harriet and company spend a rainy afternoon watching a Stephen King double feature at The Roxy. You can find the independent Harbor Theater on Townsend Avenue.
“Normally, when we eat at Bernadette’s, we take advantage of the outdoor patio with its gorgeous view of the harbor and its wide variety of rude, fry-stealing seabirds, even if the temperature requires us to be bundled in fleeces.” You could find a similar atmosphere and certainly a seagull or two at Mama D’s on Union Street. (The book also describes locals reading the Knott’s Harbor Register, so make sure to pick up a copy of The Boothbay Register or The Lincoln County News while you’re in town.)
The group eats breakfast on another day at “a white wrought iron table in the Bluebell Inn’s overgrown garden, tucked up in one of the hills that overlook the harbor.” Norton suggested Topside Inn on a quiet hilltop, where you can find full breakfast service.
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