Moore’s fourth novel Candlemas Bay (1950) focuses on the daily struggles of the Ellis family, a family that has successfully fished local waters for two hundred years, but now the current generations — from Grampie Jebron to widowed daughter-in-law Jen to grandson Jebby — struggle with change and hard times. As in her other novels, Ruth Moore uses detailed day-to-day lives to build characters of depth and tell a universal story of courage, heartbreak and love that, despite the hardships, is ultimately warm and moving.