Trails in the Sand by P.C. Zick, intriguing tale of family secrets, personal and environmental disasters, survived!
Growing up in California, there was an allure about Florida. My grandparents retired there and so did my father-in-law. When I actually moved there, I didn’t get it.
Orange groves and palm trees, of course, were the most striking elements of the environment in Central Florida. Both were familiar sights to someone who had grown up in San Diego. There was a lot more ‘sturm und drang’ in the weather, though. It rained—a lot, and it was common to hear newscasters proclaim the area the ‘lightning capital of the world’. I can’t say I found 90 degree weather and seventy percent humidity all that alluring. Especially while cringing at nearby lightning strikes.
It’s okay, go ahead and call me a weather-wimp if you wish. I admit it. My sojourn to follow, in Ann Arbor, MI, was so much worse, weather wise. You haven’t lived until your fingers stick to the metal around the ignition while trying to start an old beater car in below zero weather!
Orlando, where my husband and I landed in 1970, was being overtaken by the simulacra of theme parks and by rampant development at the time. The area doubled in population during the years we were there. Orange groves and palm trees gave way at a startling rate to sprawling residential and business communities. It was hard to see beyond all that to envision the unique natural world at the heart of Florida.
Two books I’ve read recently have made me better appreciate the beauty of the place, and have introduced me to the Florida Fiction genre. Before reading them, the closest thing I had to the notion that there might be a connection between Florida and story-telling stemmed from a trip to Key West. Writers like Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, who were frequents visitors to the area, are widely celebrated. There’s also that wonderful classic Bogart & Bacall movie, of course, Key Largo. I’ve written previously about Swamp Ghosts by Marcia Meara, the first of the two books in the genre.
I will focus here on a book I just finished reading by Patricia Zick. Trails in the Sand is a moving, intelligently-written book that tells several stories at once. Some are ripped from the headlines, apropos since the lead character, Caroline Carlisle, is a journalist. She writes mostly about environmental matters and in the gulf region, at the time this story unfolds, there’s a lot to write about. The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill is one major thread in this novel. It is told here in a more intimate way, with drama and suspense, as the full extent of the disaster is revealed.
Caroline’s personal story also unfolds, along with those of several important supporting characters. Their story is also filled with drama and suspense as the mysteries of multigenerational family dysfunction come to light—-the full extent of personal disasters, also revealed. Both the personal and environmental stories convey much about the allure and the fragility of environmental and familial ecosystems, disrupted by disasters, natural and unnatural, alike.
The setting is integral to the story and I gained a much deeper appreciation for the diversity of the huge peninsular land mass that makes up Florida. It’s part mossy south, part frothy coastline, swampy Everglades and sandy gulf-port beaches, as well as a condo-filled mecca for tourists and retirees. Florida is, at once, delicate and dense, with not one but many unique habitats for people and other creatures that make it their home. And in the end that’s what it is for the characters in Patricia Zick’s book, who find a place they can call home.
This is a great book if you enjoy family drama, have a penchant for richly detailed settings, and enjoy getting to the bottom of every day mysteries. It’s also a book that helps us understand why it’s worth the effort to sort things out and let the truth be told—so the place we call home can be shared with those we can rely on as family. A recommended read!
Stop by and sign up at my website! Until July 4th, 2014 you get a free kindle copy of book 1 in my mystery series, A DEAD HUSBAND at: http://www.desertcitiesmystery.com
Orange groves and palm trees, of course, were the most striking elements of the environment in Central Florida. Both were familiar sights to someone who had grown up in San Diego. There was a lot more ‘sturm und drang’ in the weather, though. It rained—a lot, and it was common to hear newscasters proclaim the area the ‘lightning capital of the world’. I can’t say I found 90 degree weather and seventy percent humidity all that alluring. Especially while cringing at nearby lightning strikes.
It’s okay, go ahead and call me a weather-wimp if you wish. I admit it. My sojourn to follow, in Ann Arbor, MI, was so much worse, weather wise. You haven’t lived until your fingers stick to the metal around the ignition while trying to start an old beater car in below zero weather!
Orlando, where my husband and I landed in 1970, was being overtaken by the simulacra of theme parks and by rampant development at the time. The area doubled in population during the years we were there. Orange groves and palm trees gave way at a startling rate to sprawling residential and business communities. It was hard to see beyond all that to envision the unique natural world at the heart of Florida.
Two books I’ve read recently have made me better appreciate the beauty of the place, and have introduced me to the Florida Fiction genre. Before reading them, the closest thing I had to the notion that there might be a connection between Florida and story-telling stemmed from a trip to Key West. Writers like Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, who were frequents visitors to the area, are widely celebrated. There’s also that wonderful classic Bogart & Bacall movie, of course, Key Largo. I’ve written previously about Swamp Ghosts by Marcia Meara, the first of the two books in the genre.
I will focus here on a book I just finished reading by Patricia Zick. Trails in the Sand is a moving, intelligently-written book that tells several stories at once. Some are ripped from the headlines, apropos since the lead character, Caroline Carlisle, is a journalist. She writes mostly about environmental matters and in the gulf region, at the time this story unfolds, there’s a lot to write about. The BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill is one major thread in this novel. It is told here in a more intimate way, with drama and suspense, as the full extent of the disaster is revealed.
Caroline’s personal story also unfolds, along with those of several important supporting characters. Their story is also filled with drama and suspense as the mysteries of multigenerational family dysfunction come to light—-the full extent of personal disasters, also revealed. Both the personal and environmental stories convey much about the allure and the fragility of environmental and familial ecosystems, disrupted by disasters, natural and unnatural, alike.
The setting is integral to the story and I gained a much deeper appreciation for the diversity of the huge peninsular land mass that makes up Florida. It’s part mossy south, part frothy coastline, swampy Everglades and sandy gulf-port beaches, as well as a condo-filled mecca for tourists and retirees. Florida is, at once, delicate and dense, with not one but many unique habitats for people and other creatures that make it their home. And in the end that’s what it is for the characters in Patricia Zick’s book, who find a place they can call home.
This is a great book if you enjoy family drama, have a penchant for richly detailed settings, and enjoy getting to the bottom of every day mysteries. It’s also a book that helps us understand why it’s worth the effort to sort things out and let the truth be told—so the place we call home can be shared with those we can rely on as family. A recommended read!
Stop by and sign up at my website! Until July 4th, 2014 you get a free kindle copy of book 1 in my mystery series, A DEAD HUSBAND at: http://www.desertcitiesmystery.com
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