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Cayo
KEY WESTThe lush, tropical island simmering in never-ending summer. Home to the Trents, four generations of plantation royalty, consumed by a passion for wealth and power, cherishing their immortal name and their secret sins...ABIGAIL is the matriarch who will stop at nothing, even violence, to found a dynasty and carry forth her name.RICHARD is the robust son who dares to marry a woman with a scandalous past.JOSEPHINE is the dazzling interloper who sates herself with lust and jewels until her beauty spills blood.MATT is the stalwart great-grandson who breaks the final taboo that could rob them of their bold family pride -- and plunge them all into a deadly pit of shame, disgrace and unbridled vengeance.
341 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1983
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About the author
Saliee O'Brien
23 books9 followersPseudonym of Frances Leroy "Frankie-Lee" Griggs Weed Zelley Janas..
She wrote hundreds of novels and short stories, publishing under pseudonyms including Marie Eyre, Francesca Greer, and Stuart Jason.
She was born 19 November 1908 in Appleton City, Missouri, the daughter of Benjamin Franklin Griggs and Lillian Maud Bremer. She later moved to Austin, Texas where she met and married Thurlow B. Weed, Jr. They were later divorced, and she and her son Thurlow B. Weed III moved to Hollywood, Florida. There she remarried to Leroy Zelley, whom she outlived, and later married newspaper editor Eugene Janas. Frankie-Lee (Griggs) Janas died 15 February 2002, and was buried next to her husband in Hollywood Memorial Gardens.
Her first publication was a short ghost story that was printed in her hometown newspaper when she was 12 years old. Her final book was "Cayo", a historical fiction set in Key West, Florida, and published in 1983.
Her son having predeceased her, her grandson Thurlow B. Weed IV became her literary heir. There were a number of manuscripts (MSS) that were never published. Of particular interest is a collection of short stories written in the 1950s. They are historical fiction as well as biographical fiction. They are being transcribed, edited,and published as Kindle editions. Other previously unpublished works are being reviewed for possible publication.
She wrote hundreds of novels and short stories, publishing under pseudonyms including Marie Eyre, Francesca Greer, and Stuart Jason.
She was born 19 November 1908 in Appleton City, Missouri, the daughter of Benjamin Franklin Griggs and Lillian Maud Bremer. She later moved to Austin, Texas where she met and married Thurlow B. Weed, Jr. They were later divorced, and she and her son Thurlow B. Weed III moved to Hollywood, Florida. There she remarried to Leroy Zelley, whom she outlived, and later married newspaper editor Eugene Janas. Frankie-Lee (Griggs) Janas died 15 February 2002, and was buried next to her husband in Hollywood Memorial Gardens.
Her first publication was a short ghost story that was printed in her hometown newspaper when she was 12 years old. Her final book was "Cayo", a historical fiction set in Key West, Florida, and published in 1983.
Her son having predeceased her, her grandson Thurlow B. Weed IV became her literary heir. There were a number of manuscripts (MSS) that were never published. Of particular interest is a collection of short stories written in the 1950s. They are historical fiction as well as biographical fiction. They are being transcribed, edited,and published as Kindle editions. Other previously unpublished works are being reviewed for possible publication.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 16, 2024
Started off strong with a bitchy, no-nonsense heroine…but then wasted over half the book on tedious filler & crammed (literally) 60 years of familial soap into the final sections. Everything skimmed the surface; nobody beyond Young Abigail + Young Charles was explored with any real depth. The other family members & their stories—whether born a Trent or married in—were plowed through with no regard for pace, development, or audience involvement:** the result is a crowd of mostly-forgettable people marrying, screwing, giving birth, dying, then repeat on an endless loop of names & ages. To top it off, the last scene is one of the weakest, most unsatisfying closures I’ve read in any novel, period. It just stops in the middle of a scene. Huh?
In short: it’s a book that needed to be 800 pages and/or a multi-volume saga, but instead it’s 340 pages of tepid melodrama sprinkled with occasional amusing bits.
BAYOU is a great book, but I’m beginning to suspect it was this author’s high water mark—no other O’Brien reads have come anywhere close to that level.
**There was an entertaining scene of violent WTFery involving Josephine & some dude she was banging, & later a (supposedly) tragic subplot re: half-sibling incest, but by that point I didn’t care because none of these people mattered to me, nor could I remember how they were related to Abigail & Charles. It was just a bunch of talking heads that wandered in for 10 pages before disappearing or dying.
{Note: This book is part of my ongoing quest to pluck tomes I’ve had unread for 7+ years & either love-and-keep or DNF-and-donate.}
In short: it’s a book that needed to be 800 pages and/or a multi-volume saga, but instead it’s 340 pages of tepid melodrama sprinkled with occasional amusing bits.
BAYOU is a great book, but I’m beginning to suspect it was this author’s high water mark—no other O’Brien reads have come anywhere close to that level.
**There was an entertaining scene of violent WTFery involving Josephine & some dude she was banging, & later a (supposedly) tragic subplot re: half-sibling incest, but by that point I didn’t care because none of these people mattered to me, nor could I remember how they were related to Abigail & Charles. It was just a bunch of talking heads that wandered in for 10 pages before disappearing or dying.
{Note: This book is part of my ongoing quest to pluck tomes I’ve had unread for 7+ years & either love-and-keep or DNF-and-donate.}
Displaying 1 of 1 review