Stiltsville

June 14, 2010
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.

July 1, 2010
Frances Ellerby travels from Georgia to Miami for a wedding and meets the two people who will change her life. One is the glamorous, sexy Marse, a native of Miami, who introduces her to the two great loves of her life: her husband, Dennis, and the sun-drenched landscape of Biscayne Bay. The authors organization of the story into seven sections, each of which recounts a seminal year in Miami history and Frances life, is a surprisingly successful technique for creating suspense in a book characterized by lushly descriptive and complex writing. The first-person narration provides a vivid look at the characters important to Frances as she becomes a deeply involved wife, mother, and friend. Perhaps the most important character in the story is the city of Miami, which always looms large in Frances consciousness until the bittersweet ending of her storyan ending that could have been melodramatic and maudlin but is written with great delicacy and discretion. This promising first novel will appeal to readers of family stories, literary fiction, and southern writing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)

May 1, 2010
In summer 1969, Atlanta native Frances Ellerby goes to Miami for a wedding and meets not only Dennis DuVal, the man she will marry, but also Marse, a woman who becomes her best friend. The DuVal family owns a beach house on stilts in Biscayne Bay, where Dennis and Frances will spend many of the happiest years of their marriage. Their daughter, Margo, is born, then Frances has several miscarriages. Dennis is a lawyer but grows dissatisfied with his job. The family seems happiest on the water, boating and fishing. Frances never gets over her amazement that her life flourishes in gaudy, exotic Miami. Sometimes she feels she drifted into her marriage, but as the years go by, her deep commitment to family and friends, often tested, is portrayed with emotional depth. She changes before our eyes from a guileless girl to a woman of wisdom. VERDICT This decadeslong story of a marriage will appeal to fans of Barbara Bradford, Jodi Picoult, and Sue Miller, as well as readers who enjoy first novels.Keddy Ann Outlaw, formerly with Harris Cty. P.L., Houston, TX

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.