PORTLAND, Maine — David Florig was 60 years old when he first tried his hand at one of the world’s more curious pastimes. A game that, as he acknowledges, "most people are unfamiliar with, or know only as a curiosity."
The sport was curling, and it wasn’t long before Florig became obsessed with it.
How obsessed? Well, when he decided a few years ago to write a novel and started kicking around possible ideas, it didn’t take long for him to figure out he wanted to incorporate curling into his story.
"The Stones of Ailsa Craig," a work of historical fiction, tells the story of a middle-aged man who finds salvation in curling "until it unexpectedly takes him down a much different and darker path." The narrative moves through time and space, from contemporary Belfast, Maine (home of the state’s most prominent curling club), to nineteenth-century Scotland.
A retired lawyer, Florig took his time with the book. Some days he wrote two sentences, and on others two pages. Which pursuit does he prefer—curling or writing?
"Curling," he said with a laugh. "By far."