Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Waiting on Wednesday: Stiltsville


"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases.

This week's pick:
Stiltsville
by Susanna Daniel
Publication Date: August 3

This book caught my attention after reading Daniel's engaging essay on Slate - The Quiet Hell of 10 Years of Novel Writing. I immediately remembered that Joshua Henkin's Matrimony, took ten years as well - and I loved that book. A story that is crafted and developed for ten years is not likely to disappoint.

From Publisher's Weekly:
With its lush flora and constant sun, South Florida is the true star of Daniel's exquisite debut, which follows a marriage over the course of 30 years. In 1969, having traveled from Atlanta to Miami for a college friend's wedding, 26-year-old Frances Ellerby meets glamorous Miami native Marse Heiger, who introduces her to Dennis DuVals and his house on stilts in Biscayne Bay. Though Marse has set her cap for Dennis, he and Frances fall in love and marry within a year. "I had no idea then," Frances says, "what would happen to my love, what nourishment it would receive, how mighty it would grow." Dennis and Frances have a daughter, Margo, buy a house in Coral Gables, and their life together proceeds as a series of ups and downs, beautifully told from Frances's pensive, sharp perspective. As the years pass and Miami changes, so do Frances, Dennis, and Margo, and the nuances of their relationships shift and realign, drawing inexorably toward a moving resolution.

My mother and her siblings grew up in Miami beach, and my mother lived in Miami in the late 60s as well, so I am particularly intrigued by the book's setting and time period.

What is your waiting on pick this week? And what have you been reading lately?

3 comments:

  1. I just saw this on Amazon. Nice pick. Mine is at The Crowded Leaf.

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  2. This sounds very intriguing! I never would have heard of it, thanks for sharing it! My WoW is here.

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