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Shiny Bits in Between
Dorie, a divorced middle-aged woman, has given up on life. Living in a large, too-quiet house in Houston, Texas, she has shut herself off from the world, preferring to be alone with her books and her thoughts. When Dorie unexpectedly receives an invitation to her ex-husband’s wedding, it is more than she can bear. She retreats to the only place she finds any solace—the sea.
Meanwhile, Clementine, a young artist overwhelmed by grief, makes a journey in search of her lost boy. Teetering on the edge of madness, she wanders up and down the Texas Gulf Coast, trapped in a space between reality and dreams. On a moonlit winter night, she emerges from the waves, staggering along the shore near the remnants of her shattered life.
Soon after moving into her little yellow house by the sea, Dorie discovers Clementine’s journal and begins obsessively devouring each word. Her curiosity leads her into a journey of self-discovery, connecting her to the raw beauty of Bolivar Peninsula and the eccentric, generous locals who call it home.
Fate has brought both women to this small rural community. When their paths finally collide, will they drag each other into despair or begin to transform into who they were meant to be?
A story of human resilience, Shiny Bits In Between explores the journey of transformation through connection with self, community, and the landscape we call home. What does it truly mean to move forward after a life-changing tragedy? Is happiness forever lost, or are the shiny bits in between enough?
Meanwhile, Clementine, a young artist overwhelmed by grief, makes a journey in search of her lost boy. Teetering on the edge of madness, she wanders up and down the Texas Gulf Coast, trapped in a space between reality and dreams. On a moonlit winter night, she emerges from the waves, staggering along the shore near the remnants of her shattered life.
Soon after moving into her little yellow house by the sea, Dorie discovers Clementine’s journal and begins obsessively devouring each word. Her curiosity leads her into a journey of self-discovery, connecting her to the raw beauty of Bolivar Peninsula and the eccentric, generous locals who call it home.
Fate has brought both women to this small rural community. When their paths finally collide, will they drag each other into despair or begin to transform into who they were meant to be?
A story of human resilience, Shiny Bits In Between explores the journey of transformation through connection with self, community, and the landscape we call home. What does it truly mean to move forward after a life-changing tragedy? Is happiness forever lost, or are the shiny bits in between enough?
- GenresFiction
262 pages, Paperback
Published June 26, 2020
1 person is currently reading
37 people want to read
About the author
Georgina Key
2 books6 followersGeorgina Key is an award winning writer and artist who lives in Houston, Texas. Her debut novel, Shiny Bits In Between, won the Kops-Fetherling Phoenix Award for Best New Voice of 2020 and was a finalist for the International Book Awards in the women's fiction category. She graduated with an M.A. in English and has taught writing for many years, both formally at the college level and through Writer’s in the Schools and Grackle and Grackle, as well as independently as a private writing tutor.
Shiny Bits in Between is her love letter to Bolivar Peninsula, a small rural community on the Texas Gulf Coast.
Shiny Bits in Between is her love letter to Bolivar Peninsula, a small rural community on the Texas Gulf Coast.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 9, 2020
Georgina Key’s Shiny Bits in Between is magical and real at the same time. You might expect the “shiny bits” to be the magical and what they are “in between” to be the real. But it’s not quite so simple.
The blanket of stars that slowly emerge over a farm on a fall evening, the detritus that reflects moonlight from the empty spaces of our pathway, the bioluminescent plankton that light up a dark ocean. We can physically see these shiny bits regardless of our state of mind, but it is our reality that gives them meaning.
This idea reminds me of something my son Brian said to my mother when he was about 5 years old. They were looking out at the Gulf of Mexico one evening, and the reflections of the moon and stars were sparkling and rippling just beyond the low waves. Brian said, “Nana, do you see that, too?” He wondered if it was only meant for him, but he wanted to share it. Sharing the shiny bits makes them both real and magical.
In the novel, Dorie and Clementine can see the magic around them, but its meaning is obscured until they can share it. And they can’t share it until the pieces of their real world start falling into place. These two strong women—along with Rennie, Lou, Izzy, Shelley, and several other characters—are lovely because of their imperfections and their struggles. By genuinely connecting with each other, they are able to fill in the gaps for each other, thereby becoming shiny (reflective) bits in each other’s lives.
Georgina’s novel is a beautiful illustration of this notion. It also captures a place that some of us know well on the Texas Gulf Coast. This novel will allure you, and it will ground you. It will open your heart.
The shiny bits remind us of what is real . . . and somehow give us permission to embrace that reality.
The blanket of stars that slowly emerge over a farm on a fall evening, the detritus that reflects moonlight from the empty spaces of our pathway, the bioluminescent plankton that light up a dark ocean. We can physically see these shiny bits regardless of our state of mind, but it is our reality that gives them meaning.
This idea reminds me of something my son Brian said to my mother when he was about 5 years old. They were looking out at the Gulf of Mexico one evening, and the reflections of the moon and stars were sparkling and rippling just beyond the low waves. Brian said, “Nana, do you see that, too?” He wondered if it was only meant for him, but he wanted to share it. Sharing the shiny bits makes them both real and magical.
In the novel, Dorie and Clementine can see the magic around them, but its meaning is obscured until they can share it. And they can’t share it until the pieces of their real world start falling into place. These two strong women—along with Rennie, Lou, Izzy, Shelley, and several other characters—are lovely because of their imperfections and their struggles. By genuinely connecting with each other, they are able to fill in the gaps for each other, thereby becoming shiny (reflective) bits in each other’s lives.
Georgina’s novel is a beautiful illustration of this notion. It also captures a place that some of us know well on the Texas Gulf Coast. This novel will allure you, and it will ground you. It will open your heart.
The shiny bits remind us of what is real . . . and somehow give us permission to embrace that reality.
August 7, 2021
This is the story of two women, both dealing with the death of their children. Dorie's daughter died of cancer, Clementine's by drowning. Dorie, hovering around dysfunction, is still better off than Clementine, who nearly loses her mind, drifting homeless for a time, in and out of reality. When she decides the only way to see / save her son is to join him under the waves, she is saved by Dorie, who now occupies Clementine's former home. The women circle around each other (and everybody else), both guarded, so wounded. This was difficult to read, and the author does such a good job of describing their grief, especially Clementine's, that it was scary how it resonated with me. I could almost imagine following Clementine's path. Losing a child -- I just can't imagine it.
Ms. Key is adept at setting and sensory descriptions. For ex., here's a ferry pulling away from the shore:
"A bellow, like the call of a mammoth sea monster, signaled the ferry's departure, and the engine revved as the boat lurched forward...The clank of steel reverberated as the wind picked up, whisking away the stink of fish and diesel and car fumes."
However, I would have liked for the author to have spent less time describing dreams, and more on the emotions and reactions of the two women, but this is a small disappointment in an otherwise compelling work.
Ms. Key is adept at setting and sensory descriptions. For ex., here's a ferry pulling away from the shore:
"A bellow, like the call of a mammoth sea monster, signaled the ferry's departure, and the engine revved as the boat lurched forward...The clank of steel reverberated as the wind picked up, whisking away the stink of fish and diesel and car fumes."
However, I would have liked for the author to have spent less time describing dreams, and more on the emotions and reactions of the two women, but this is a small disappointment in an otherwise compelling work.
December 31, 2020
Literary fiction at its finest! Haunting! Brilliant!
This is a captivating story by the sea off the coast of Texas’ Bolivar Peninsula! The mystery of a journal found takes the reader on a poetic, page-turner! Two women. Two children. The themes of loss, failed love, and search for meaning traverse the pages of this lovely book.
Key’s story sheds light on hope born from loss. And how one woman’s suffering can prepare her to help another women in pain. That darkness can be transformed into daylight when we dare to care about a stranger.
Powerful, indeed! Bravo!
This is a captivating story by the sea off the coast of Texas’ Bolivar Peninsula! The mystery of a journal found takes the reader on a poetic, page-turner! Two women. Two children. The themes of loss, failed love, and search for meaning traverse the pages of this lovely book.
Key’s story sheds light on hope born from loss. And how one woman’s suffering can prepare her to help another women in pain. That darkness can be transformed into daylight when we dare to care about a stranger.
Powerful, indeed! Bravo!
July 29, 2020
I absolutely loved so many things about this book. Although personally familiar with the setting, I think anyone who gets solace and comfort from the beach will enjoy. It is also the story of loss, and learning to live again. It is beautifully written, and a very compelling read. I read from start to end in one setting because I could not put it down.
July 13, 2020
I loved this book; from the gorgeous cover art to the typesetting throughout, but most importantly, the very beautifully written story which is so vivid and visual. It has an extraordinary sense of "place". I loved how it weaved it's way around many strands. It's one of those books I've been thinking about since. A deep pleasure to read :)
June 3, 2020
Set on the Bolivar Peninsula off the Texas Gulf Coast, shiny bits in between is the story of Dorie and Clementine, two women in very different circumstances, each facing the loss of her child. When their paths cross, they learn to find life beyond grief. With a wonderful cast of supporting characters, including the landscape itself, shiny bits in between uses lovely, evocative language that speaks to the heart of love, loss, and redemption.
October 14, 2022
This book is just incredibly … fun. And warm. And a lovely bit of escapism from the pandemic, 1/6, and everything dark in the world. And it’s not fluff! This is a smart writer who respects her readers’ intelligence. I absolutely loved it.
December 11, 2022
Georgina Key's debut novel Shiny Bits in Between was published by Balance of Seven Press two months before my own debut novel Grey Dawn. While I have crossed paths with Georgina in online spaces run by the press, only recently did I remedy my oversight of not having read her work sooner. What I found was a haunting, profound meditation on death, rebirth, grief, and the things that are points of light in the darkness.
We queer folk often reinvent ourselves by necessity in a world that is not always accepting. We constantly seek community and moments of joy and respite and whatever closure we can find-- the things that bring light in the dark. In that regard, I resonated strongly with Dorie and Clementine's respective journeys. Through a journey that weaves like footsteps in beach sand, they stumble and grasp and seek, sometimes imperfectly, for new beginnings after the unthinkable loss of both their children. My favorite author, 19th-century educator and soldier Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, wrote "What has gone takes something with it, and when this is of the dear, nothing can fill the place. All the changes touched the border of sorrows." There is, ultimately, nothing that can quite fill the void of two children lost to sickness and the waves.
And yet, as Chamberlain also said, "indeed, in the hour of sorrow and disaster, do we not all belong to each other?" Dorie and Clementine find that belonging, and manage to find a new sort of reconciliation, healing, and community on the Bolivar Peninsula.
In light of recent anti-trans legislation coming out of that state, it was heartening to read a story this hauntingly beautiful, set in a part of Texas that I'd never heard of before. It was heartening also to note the plot thread that featured a young lesbian, Izzie, finding understanding where she least expected it, in Dorie and Rennie and other straight adults who might not have understood perfectly, but were profoundly decent where she rightfully expected ostracism. This, like the rest of the story, was artfully woven and speaks to what could be, if people in positions like the adults in her life stop and try to be decent and kind rather than jump to denunciation and harm.
I eagerly await more from Georgina Key, and I urge you to read Shiny Bits in Between and ask your local library to acquire it for others to enjoy in turn.
We queer folk often reinvent ourselves by necessity in a world that is not always accepting. We constantly seek community and moments of joy and respite and whatever closure we can find-- the things that bring light in the dark. In that regard, I resonated strongly with Dorie and Clementine's respective journeys. Through a journey that weaves like footsteps in beach sand, they stumble and grasp and seek, sometimes imperfectly, for new beginnings after the unthinkable loss of both their children. My favorite author, 19th-century educator and soldier Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, wrote "What has gone takes something with it, and when this is of the dear, nothing can fill the place. All the changes touched the border of sorrows." There is, ultimately, nothing that can quite fill the void of two children lost to sickness and the waves.
And yet, as Chamberlain also said, "indeed, in the hour of sorrow and disaster, do we not all belong to each other?" Dorie and Clementine find that belonging, and manage to find a new sort of reconciliation, healing, and community on the Bolivar Peninsula.
In light of recent anti-trans legislation coming out of that state, it was heartening to read a story this hauntingly beautiful, set in a part of Texas that I'd never heard of before. It was heartening also to note the plot thread that featured a young lesbian, Izzie, finding understanding where she least expected it, in Dorie and Rennie and other straight adults who might not have understood perfectly, but were profoundly decent where she rightfully expected ostracism. This, like the rest of the story, was artfully woven and speaks to what could be, if people in positions like the adults in her life stop and try to be decent and kind rather than jump to denunciation and harm.
I eagerly await more from Georgina Key, and I urge you to read Shiny Bits in Between and ask your local library to acquire it for others to enjoy in turn.
August 10, 2020
Sbib is a must-read for so many reasons. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to start over, you’ll relate to Dorie’s journey. Especially if your favorite place is at the beach by the water. Georgina Key is a wordsmith in the best possible way. Her beautiful language immersed me in the coastal setting, and I felt like I knew all the characters personally by the end. I desperately want to know what happens to them all next! Sequel please!
August 25, 2020
Shiny Bits in Between is a lovely adventure out to sea. Meet Dorie, a middle-aged trauma-turned misanthrope who leaves her Houston life behind in favor of the chance to be alone with her ocean, reading books until oblivion. Of course, Dorie wasn’t expecting a town of people-lovers who would knock constantly on her door with good wishes. Forced to face what she went through, Shiny Bits truly is a story of overcoming the past and the present to prepare for a surprisingly hopeful future.
July 27, 2020
There is an interwoven story within a story of two women and their journeys through grief. The book held my attention to find out how these ladies work through their issues with grief. It is set in Boliver - a very relatable locale for those of us familiar with Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast. Loved the book. Congratulations Georgina Key!
June 29, 2023
I picked this up at a book fair in Galveston- writing style was beautiful and I could picture all the clapboard houses by the sea. A lovely dreamy setting. I’m not sure I totally understand Dories obsession with Clementine and her insistence on helping her - I’m sure there’s a metaphor there and I just missed it.
October 12, 2020
I loved this book! It is a beautifully written story of loss and renewal. Highly recommend!
February 25, 2021
Poetic prose and wonderful sense of place on the Texas Gulf Coast make this a must-read.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews