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Ivory Shoals
In the tradition of Mark Twain and Cormac McCarthy comes this distinctly American, pulse-quickening epic from the acclaimed author of Citrus County and Arkansas.
Twelve-year-old Gussie Dwyer—audacious, resilient, determined to adhere to the morals his mother instilled in him—undertakes to trek across the sumptuous yet perilous peninsula of post-Civil War Florida in search of his father, a man who has no idea of his son’s existence. Gussie’s journey sees him cross paths with hardened Floridians of every stripe, from the brave and noble to a bevy of cutthroat villains, none worse than his amoral shark of a half brother. Will he survive his quest, and at what cost?
Rich in deadpan humor as well as visceral details that illuminate a diverse cast of characters, the novel uncovers deep truths about family and self-determination as the reader tracks Gussie’s dangerous odyssey out of childhood. Ivory Shoals is an unforgettable story from a contemporary master.
Twelve-year-old Gussie Dwyer—audacious, resilient, determined to adhere to the morals his mother instilled in him—undertakes to trek across the sumptuous yet perilous peninsula of post-Civil War Florida in search of his father, a man who has no idea of his son’s existence. Gussie’s journey sees him cross paths with hardened Floridians of every stripe, from the brave and noble to a bevy of cutthroat villains, none worse than his amoral shark of a half brother. Will he survive his quest, and at what cost?
Rich in deadpan humor as well as visceral details that illuminate a diverse cast of characters, the novel uncovers deep truths about family and self-determination as the reader tracks Gussie’s dangerous odyssey out of childhood. Ivory Shoals is an unforgettable story from a contemporary master.
250 pages, Hardcover
Published June 29, 2021
51 people are currently reading
618 people want to read
About the author
John Brandon
43 books149 followersAlthough John Brandon is an MFA graduate of the writing program at Washington University in St. Louis, while drafting the novel Arkansas, he "worked at a lumber mill, a windshield warehouse, a Coca-Cola distributor, and several small factories producing goods made of rubber and plastic." In his spare time, he obsesses over Florida Gators football.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
June 16, 2021
My review for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune: https://www.newsbug.info/news/nation/...
In a recent interview with his publisher, McSweeney's, John Brandon explained that writer Tom Franklin once told him on the subject of creating convincing historical fiction, "If you don't know what was involved in going to the bathroom, you're not ready to write scenes in that time period." The earthy vividness with which he depicts the American South in the mid-1860s in his latest novel, "Ivory Shoals," reveals that Brandon was ready.
From the "shallow pan of poisoned sugar water, a means against flies" in the bordello known as Rye's to the stomach-turning rumors that "all the highbred hounds of Georgia had been stewed with onions and eaten merrily on crackers by the Yankee soldiers," Brandon's fallen-Confederacy setting comes authoritatively alive.
This coming-of-age story continues his work in the vein of William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Cormac McCarthy and Barry Hannah, tracking outsiders from society's fringes on odd and often gruesomely humorous quests through richly realized and treacherous landscapes. After the death of his prostitute mother, Lavinia, in 1865, Gussie Dwyer, Brandon's 12-year-old protagonist, sets out across the wreckage of post-Civil War Florida on a mission to find his dad, Madden Joseph Searle, an inventor unaware that this son even exists.
On the way, he keeps his mother's teaching — that he "be sparing of those deemed vile and leery of angels" — in mind. Chased by a vicious bounty hunter named August for absconding with "one whole evenin's revenue" from his mother's former place of employment, Gussie encounters plenty of reprehensible and seraphic minor characters.
Many of them speak in paragraphs of stylized dialogue full of vernacular flourishes, as when Gussie's contemptible and contemptuous rival Julius, Searle's legitimate son and heir, says to a Salt Lake City whore of his murderous intent regarding his unexpected half-brother, "This is the way of men and always has been. No fault lies in the urchin seeking his pudding, no fault in my repelling him. The victor has his spoils the loser his wounds."
An associate professor at Hamline University in St. Paul, Brandon was born and raised in Florida, and his lushly described terrain bristles with beauty and menace. Anticipating the threats posed to him by the swamplands, Gussie pictures the "spiders heavy as kittens. Alligators, patient as the seasons and without scruple."
Brandon also indulges in descriptions of the era's food with gusto befitting his half-orphan hero, packing the pages with such lists as "a spotted yellow apple, a pair of seedcakes, and a handful of rock candy flavored weakly of lemon."
Brandon is the author of four previous books with McSweeney's — "Arkansas" (2008), "Citrus County" (2010), "A Million Heavens" (2012) and "Further Joy" (2014). His debut, a grimly comic and violent tale of drug running in the American South, was adapted last year into a movie starring Vivica A. Fox, Liam Hemsworth and Vince Vaughn.
Cinematic and featuring a plot full of old-timey moral clarity where virtue and villainy delineate themselves sharply, "Ivory Shoals" is a gripping yarn that unfolds a tapestry of "Humanity wicked as one could conceive, or as worthy."
In a recent interview with his publisher, McSweeney's, John Brandon explained that writer Tom Franklin once told him on the subject of creating convincing historical fiction, "If you don't know what was involved in going to the bathroom, you're not ready to write scenes in that time period." The earthy vividness with which he depicts the American South in the mid-1860s in his latest novel, "Ivory Shoals," reveals that Brandon was ready.
From the "shallow pan of poisoned sugar water, a means against flies" in the bordello known as Rye's to the stomach-turning rumors that "all the highbred hounds of Georgia had been stewed with onions and eaten merrily on crackers by the Yankee soldiers," Brandon's fallen-Confederacy setting comes authoritatively alive.
This coming-of-age story continues his work in the vein of William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Cormac McCarthy and Barry Hannah, tracking outsiders from society's fringes on odd and often gruesomely humorous quests through richly realized and treacherous landscapes. After the death of his prostitute mother, Lavinia, in 1865, Gussie Dwyer, Brandon's 12-year-old protagonist, sets out across the wreckage of post-Civil War Florida on a mission to find his dad, Madden Joseph Searle, an inventor unaware that this son even exists.
On the way, he keeps his mother's teaching — that he "be sparing of those deemed vile and leery of angels" — in mind. Chased by a vicious bounty hunter named August for absconding with "one whole evenin's revenue" from his mother's former place of employment, Gussie encounters plenty of reprehensible and seraphic minor characters.
Many of them speak in paragraphs of stylized dialogue full of vernacular flourishes, as when Gussie's contemptible and contemptuous rival Julius, Searle's legitimate son and heir, says to a Salt Lake City whore of his murderous intent regarding his unexpected half-brother, "This is the way of men and always has been. No fault lies in the urchin seeking his pudding, no fault in my repelling him. The victor has his spoils the loser his wounds."
An associate professor at Hamline University in St. Paul, Brandon was born and raised in Florida, and his lushly described terrain bristles with beauty and menace. Anticipating the threats posed to him by the swamplands, Gussie pictures the "spiders heavy as kittens. Alligators, patient as the seasons and without scruple."
Brandon also indulges in descriptions of the era's food with gusto befitting his half-orphan hero, packing the pages with such lists as "a spotted yellow apple, a pair of seedcakes, and a handful of rock candy flavored weakly of lemon."
Brandon is the author of four previous books with McSweeney's — "Arkansas" (2008), "Citrus County" (2010), "A Million Heavens" (2012) and "Further Joy" (2014). His debut, a grimly comic and violent tale of drug running in the American South, was adapted last year into a movie starring Vivica A. Fox, Liam Hemsworth and Vince Vaughn.
Cinematic and featuring a plot full of old-timey moral clarity where virtue and villainy delineate themselves sharply, "Ivory Shoals" is a gripping yarn that unfolds a tapestry of "Humanity wicked as one could conceive, or as worthy."
November 8, 2021
A rare gem that I didn't want to end. A boy searches for his birth father during post Civil War in Florida. This author creates settings as dense with language and literary word choices as the Florida swamps with their creeping vines and dangling snakes. I kept the dictionary close by due to the sophistication of wording and the terms prevalent of the 1800s, more archaic today. The author also presents a thorough knowledge of the defeated south: the mood, the poverty, the southerners who didn't want to fight in the first place. A beautiful book and story. My first McSweeney read and I'm so impressed I will now be watching the work of this publisher with expectation.
"They had three young boys and a teenage daughter, and mother and daughter alike were the fetchingest eyefuls ever to eat soup with a spoon. Necks like swans. Cheeks to make any Richmond debutante look like a miner at quitting time."
"And only when he'd finished and caught his breath and felt heaviness overtake his limbs did his thoughts return to the swamp. The serpents lying in wait. The spiders heavy as kittens. Alligators, patient as the seasons and without scruple."
"He wiped his face on his shirttail and took a seat on the clay, ate the last of his beef, wet his whistle. He wanted a train to pass so he would know the world was working, still viable, wanted to see the speck grow and grow and unblacken and finally roar past clanging and chuffing, hauling with it is own wind and spicy, scorched odor."
"They had three young boys and a teenage daughter, and mother and daughter alike were the fetchingest eyefuls ever to eat soup with a spoon. Necks like swans. Cheeks to make any Richmond debutante look like a miner at quitting time."
"And only when he'd finished and caught his breath and felt heaviness overtake his limbs did his thoughts return to the swamp. The serpents lying in wait. The spiders heavy as kittens. Alligators, patient as the seasons and without scruple."
"He wiped his face on his shirttail and took a seat on the clay, ate the last of his beef, wet his whistle. He wanted a train to pass so he would know the world was working, still viable, wanted to see the speck grow and grow and unblacken and finally roar past clanging and chuffing, hauling with it is own wind and spicy, scorched odor."
June 16, 2021
What a thrilling novel - so impressive to watch an author reinvent himself book-by-book. There are familiar elements from previous John Brandon capers (the loveable hangdog protagonist, in WAY over his head; the tension that ratchets gradually and then allofasudden to cathartic release), but IVORY SHOALS is a complete stylistic overhaul from Brandon's prior books. This is a timeless consideration of good & evil & all the gradations between, a book of wandering souls looking for harbor in a fallen world.
March 6, 2022
As our protagonists slogs through the swamps of Florida, the author helps us relate to his hard and seemingly endless trudge by making it so difficult to turn the page and continue reading that we are tempted to give up on the journey altogether. 50 interesting pages in a 300 page novel. I respect Brandon for trying something new narratively and stylistically, but this didn’t work for me. There are a few beautiful moments, but I didn’t feel the book as a whole was worth the journey.
November 16, 2021
William Bartram is a travel writer we should all admire, as is Charles Montagu Dought. Our times have given us the gift of Paul Theroux who is perhaps the greatest travel writer in the language. But along with travel comes nature as any reader of H.D. Thoreau knows. And Charles Frazier did a very competent job with Cold Mountain in both travel and nature writing. But here is a new champion: John Brandon.
Brandon writes of the defeated South, but avoids the stereotypes while incorporating a few filler characters. Unlike Delia Owens who did an an amazing job with the nature parts of her otherwise embarrassing Where the Crawdads Sing, Brandon gives us a novel of substance and integrity. At times it’s breath taking.
His descriptions of the North Florida ecology numbs like a too large shot of spirts. He also pays close attention to those nearly forgotten components of characterization and plot. Bravo.
.
January 27, 2022
4.5 stars. Ivory Shoals is a rollicking coming of age adventure story. When his mother, a goodhearted prostitute, dies, 12-year-old Gussie treks through the swamps of post-Civil War Florida to find the father he’s never met. A bounty hunter sent by his mother’s pimp tracks him on his journey, during which he encounters mishaps, natural and man made dangers, and kindhearted saviors. The writing is gorgeous, full of lush descriptions, old time words and expressions, and humorous touches. Characters, both good and bad, have depth and nuance. I greatly enjoyed this novel, which reminds me somewhat of Mark Twain’s works.
October 17, 2021
Gritty adventure story in barely-post-civil-war Florida, as a 12 year old boy crosses the state alone, on foot. His mother has just died and he is searching for a father who is unaware of his existence. Reminded me of “The Road” by Cormac McCarthy and also True Grit by Charles Portis. Lots of terrible situations, lots of being saved by luck and people who help him. Maybe a bit cliched in bits but that’s made up for by great language and descriptions of the natural and human environment of Florida in the mid 1860s.
January 28, 2022
I’ve only just finished Ivory Shoals and need to sit with it before writing a review. Meanwhile I’ll say this: I rarely give a book five stars, rarely buy a borrowed book to read once again, seldom preach a book into the hands of reader-friends I care about. This one claims the prize in all three categories.
May 16, 2025
As a Civil War re-enactor, I was impressed with this story. The characters are believable and well-drawn by the author. As the boy leaves on his own after his mother's death, his experiences take him down a well-worm path.
Worth the read.
Worth the read.
December 10, 2021
This is a beautifully written saga of Gussie, a 12 year old in post civil war Florida whose prostitute mother has just died and who goes on a quest to reach his biological father who is unaware of his existence. He tries to get money owed to his mother. Failing that, he steals from her employer who sends a bounty hunter after him. In traveling by foot across Florida he meets all sorts of characters, some deadly and some very helpful. We are cheering him along but what makes this book so special is the poetic descriptions that seems to pervade every sentence.
August 17, 2022
As much as I love Brandon, it felt like this was overly ornate writing wrapped around not much of a story.
March 26, 2022
This was a beautiful book that moved as slow as a hot Southern drowsy afternoon. Languorous. Elegant. Reminiscent of *Huckleberry Finn* in plot, though its main character had less conflict in his morality. Following the death of his mother, Gussie Dwyer has stolen what her "boss" owed her and set out to trek across Florida from east to west in search of his father, who has no idea he even exists. Along the way he meets all sorts of people - some helpful, and others who prey on his youth and weakness. Interspersing chapters are also devoted to the other three main characters: his father, a former inventor who has lost his drive; his father's servant/manager, Abraham; and Julius, his half-brother who has been hiding from their father's expectations and leading a life of debauchery in the far West. There is suspense as we approach the time when all four stories will converge, but the language which describes each of their journeys is descriptive, complicated, and challenging (vocabulary and sentence structure). The reader is expected to contribute time, effort, and concentration, but the payoff is totally worth it.
April 6, 2022
This was written very well, but the detailed description of every tree, fence and body of water in Florida pulled me down. This book could have been 100 pages easily. I kept thinking in my head of Eli Cash from the Royal Tenenbaums as he read his book "Old Custer" - The crickets and the rust-beetles scuttled among the nettles of the sage thicket. "Vámonos, amigos,” he whispered, and threw the busted leather flintcraw over the loose weave of the saddlecock. And they rode on in the friscalating dusklight.
Again, well written, but not my type of book.
Again, well written, but not my type of book.
February 18, 2022
Such a distinctive voice here, and such a pleasure.
I’ll just quote some passages to give a sense of Brandon’s gorgeous writing:
Rye laid his hands and wrists limply upon the desktop, like drowned rodents. “And your intention is to liquidate said account and transfer all proceeds to those there trouser pockets you most times use for hanging your thumbs?”
I’m going south,” he explained. … our own American South…. You look down you see a snake. You look up, you see an illiterate . You sit at a table, you see cornbread.
Bitters took this in. “I’m partial to cornbread,” he said optimistically.
“I choked down some adulterated coffee in my day,” August said, “but I believe this here gets the ribbon.”
“I don’t make no claim for this kick-juice, except you can’t look through it and read a newspaper,” the clerk said. “Blend the old woman down the way scares up. Acorns and chicory. I reckon there’s a pinch of real being in there, but I don’t ask.” “I’m picking up hints of gunpowder,” August said.
And then, the food! I wish I had made note of every bit of food the characters eat in this novel. It is so fascinating to me, and I want to know more about Brandon’s research. But here’s some:
“What he recalled more immediately were the drawn-out years when she was far gone to dreariness and outbursts, eating nothing but pastes. Caraway seed paste, meant to prevent hysterics. Fig paste for digestion. The soft, boiled onions that salved her throat.”
“He could scarcely wait to have [the money ] spent. To turn it over for boiled peanuts and ginger beer. For a very tart and fresh milk. Stewed oysters and hot bread. If they even had oysters in the interior. Prune meringues. A roasted woodcock. Pepper pot and cornbread. “
Custard in heavy orange syrup
A meal of dry white beans and tepid water
Ham biscuits
A half-finished breakfast of pickled okra and prunes
Nesselrode pie thick and hot as a new brick
Three peach tarts wrapped in pudding cloth and a big knot of salt pork
Pickles and pig eyes
I’ll just quote some passages to give a sense of Brandon’s gorgeous writing:
Rye laid his hands and wrists limply upon the desktop, like drowned rodents. “And your intention is to liquidate said account and transfer all proceeds to those there trouser pockets you most times use for hanging your thumbs?”
I’m going south,” he explained. … our own American South…. You look down you see a snake. You look up, you see an illiterate . You sit at a table, you see cornbread.
Bitters took this in. “I’m partial to cornbread,” he said optimistically.
“I choked down some adulterated coffee in my day,” August said, “but I believe this here gets the ribbon.”
“I don’t make no claim for this kick-juice, except you can’t look through it and read a newspaper,” the clerk said. “Blend the old woman down the way scares up. Acorns and chicory. I reckon there’s a pinch of real being in there, but I don’t ask.” “I’m picking up hints of gunpowder,” August said.
And then, the food! I wish I had made note of every bit of food the characters eat in this novel. It is so fascinating to me, and I want to know more about Brandon’s research. But here’s some:
“What he recalled more immediately were the drawn-out years when she was far gone to dreariness and outbursts, eating nothing but pastes. Caraway seed paste, meant to prevent hysterics. Fig paste for digestion. The soft, boiled onions that salved her throat.”
“He could scarcely wait to have [the money ] spent. To turn it over for boiled peanuts and ginger beer. For a very tart and fresh milk. Stewed oysters and hot bread. If they even had oysters in the interior. Prune meringues. A roasted woodcock. Pepper pot and cornbread. “
Custard in heavy orange syrup
A meal of dry white beans and tepid water
Ham biscuits
A half-finished breakfast of pickled okra and prunes
Nesselrode pie thick and hot as a new brick
Three peach tarts wrapped in pudding cloth and a big knot of salt pork
Pickles and pig eyes
December 31, 2021
This is 3.5 stars rounded up. I could not give such a lyrically written novel with such gorgeous prose 3 stars. But that prose was a bit of a problem for me. There are too many examples to give, as it comprises most of the book. Set right after the civil war, this story is part Mark Twain and part Candide with flowery language and descriptions similar to that heard on the television show, Deadwood. The author tried for authenticity of the time period with his writing, and although he succeeded, it does make for some dense reading.
Gussy is the 12 year old hero/protagonist in this book. His mother, a prostitute, has died, leaving him destitute, but filled with memories of her love. She did leave him with a legacy of sorts...the knowledge that his biological father is alive and a very prosperous man. He sets off on his treacherous journey to find his father armed with a watch that belonged to his father, and a few scraps of his belongings. His trip towards that destination is what makes up this book.
Gussy is the 12 year old hero/protagonist in this book. His mother, a prostitute, has died, leaving him destitute, but filled with memories of her love. She did leave him with a legacy of sorts...the knowledge that his biological father is alive and a very prosperous man. He sets off on his treacherous journey to find his father armed with a watch that belonged to his father, and a few scraps of his belongings. His trip towards that destination is what makes up this book.
April 2, 2022
The Civil War has ended, and Gussie, 13-years old, has just lost his mother. She has told him about his father, Madden Joseph Steiles and has given him a gold watch with his initials engraved. Gussie decides to go meet him, and sends a letter simply saying his intentions. Before leaving,Gussie attempts to get his mother's back pay, and when the her pimp refuses, Gussie takes it from the till, and begins his journey across the state of Florida heading to Ivory Shoals - near Indian Rocks on the Gulf Coast. Along the way he is pursued by a bounty hunter, and runs into many dangers.
At the same time, Steiles' servant intercepts the letter, and has informed Steile's legitimate son, Julius, of the interloper. Julius, a drunkard who evaded serving in the war, and has settled in San Francisco begins his journey to go back to Ivory Shoals and ensure he gets what is his.
I loved how this story showed both of their journeys, the people they meet along the way, and how their father is facing what is happening to his estate now that the war is over.
At the same time, Steiles' servant intercepts the letter, and has informed Steile's legitimate son, Julius, of the interloper. Julius, a drunkard who evaded serving in the war, and has settled in San Francisco begins his journey to go back to Ivory Shoals and ensure he gets what is his.
I loved how this story showed both of their journeys, the people they meet along the way, and how their father is facing what is happening to his estate now that the war is over.
August 17, 2023
There are three things this story has going for it: I am a big fan of John Brandon's since Citrus County, I love Florida, and I love a story that deals with virtue and how hard it is to be good. You have to be foolish to try and even more foolish to persevere.
Gussie's story is extremely enjoyable and it can be such a pleasure to follow him down the road to Ivory Shoals, but the language of the novel could be tiresome, as exhausting as the trek itself, as it stays so dastardly true to the Civil War era. I don't mind googling a word here and there, but I wouldn't recommend this great adventure novel to anyone looking to lose themselves in the story. I will say, for all my fustrations, the final scenes along the Gulf Coast will stick with me for some time.
Gussie's story is extremely enjoyable and it can be such a pleasure to follow him down the road to Ivory Shoals, but the language of the novel could be tiresome, as exhausting as the trek itself, as it stays so dastardly true to the Civil War era. I don't mind googling a word here and there, but I wouldn't recommend this great adventure novel to anyone looking to lose themselves in the story. I will say, for all my fustrations, the final scenes along the Gulf Coast will stick with me for some time.
August 16, 2025
I love John Brandon. He's a unique writer that challenges plot, often giving you something that is frustrating or feels aimless and pairs it with character work exposed through really clever dialogue that exists in the realm of a Elmore Leonard or Cormac McCarthy. He's also regional in a way that often pays off in its specificity. But he's not remotely an experimental writer and what he's doing mostly feels in line with a lot of classic American literature. This one feels very much like classic American literature. It's a road story. It's got the snappy dialogue. It's regional. It's a period piece. And yet there's something about it that doesn't quite hit. It feels drawn out and difficult; overly descriptive of landscape, though it's often beautiful in that rendering. It's a number of books all in one book and I was never entirely sure what it was doing. That could be me! This has its highs but it is my least favorite of the Brandon books so far.
December 7, 2021
Following the death of his mother (a working girl) in 1865, Gussie Dwyer travels across Florida in the aftermath of the Civil War Florida to meet his father, Madden Joseph Searle. He brings an old heirloom watch with his initials. Searle is an inventor, who has no idea that he had a son with his short dalliance. Meanwhile, Searle's son Julius and his manservant are plotting to make sure Gussie does not get any portion of Searle's wealth, which they view as their inheritance. Gussie has some bad luck along the way, but strangers intercede on his behalf. While I think John Brandon did a good job with the tumultuous time, I did not really care for the characters beyond Gussie, and the ending was too abrupt.
January 30, 2023
Another superb story with excellent writing. The chapters cycle through three different points of view (the focal characters are slightly different in the two halves of the book) as they converge on the same geographical location. The setting is Florida right after the Civil War, so there's tough, swampy terrain filled with tough characters; some kind, some with evil motives. The only thing that made this a slightly difficult read is Brandon's insistence on using period-appropriate language. I found myself regularly reaching for Google. Brandon is the only author I have read completely, and I am always eager for more from him.
August 9, 2021
With Ivory Shoals, John Brandon makes something old fashioned sharp and relevant again. Within its just shy of 300 packed pages, there is a bildungsroman, a picaresque, a quest, and a morality tale. There is peril, bravery, villainy, virtue, and lessons hard-learned. Echoes of Huck Finn abound, shades of Faulkner and McCarthy too, a dynamic vigor injected into the 19th century setting a la True Grit or The Good Lord Bird, and a nocturnal beauty akin to film classic Night Of The Hunter, yet Brandon's story stands tall on its own: a grand, heart expanding adventure of the deepest humanity.
February 8, 2022
A Boy's Quest
This is the story of a boy who, upon the death of his mother, sets out across posts civil war Florida to find the father who is unaware of his existence. Along the way he celebrates his 13th birthday, which he almost forgets, but more importantly, he finds himself and becomes a young man along the way. The novel is beautifully, if maybe a bit overabundantly, descriptive and written in the style of its time frame, making reading somewhat challenging, but well worth the effort. Probably would be 3-1/2 if that opyion was available.
This is the story of a boy who, upon the death of his mother, sets out across posts civil war Florida to find the father who is unaware of his existence. Along the way he celebrates his 13th birthday, which he almost forgets, but more importantly, he finds himself and becomes a young man along the way. The novel is beautifully, if maybe a bit overabundantly, descriptive and written in the style of its time frame, making reading somewhat challenging, but well worth the effort. Probably would be 3-1/2 if that opyion was available.
February 17, 2022
The prose in this book are impressive, they push you right into the time-period. I would recommend this book to anyone who's open to immersing themselves into the language and culture of post-war America. Also, it's just a fun read. With plenty of action and anticipation, the pages fly by pretty effortlessly.
I did not like the ending. I didn't feel like the author justified it enough. Hence, the 4 star rating. But if you want to have an entertaining read, go ahead and pick this one up.
I did not like the ending. I didn't feel like the author justified it enough. Hence, the 4 star rating. But if you want to have an entertaining read, go ahead and pick this one up.
June 18, 2025
An interesting saga about a young boy in search of his birth father following the death of his mom. The character develop of the protagonist is wonderful. His choices, priorities, thoughts and inherent respect for others draws the reader into the life of a 13 year old boy trekking across Florida on foot in the mid-19th Century. Dark forces hover and there is threat to Gussie's goal, but you'll want to keep turning the page to the end.
October 21, 2021
This novel mirrors the order, serendipity, and disorder of life. A tale that has a measure of Twain, Faulkner and Welty woven into it. John Brandon's play of words and depth of characterization will draw you along on an adventure. A life described,just after the Civil war, that is languid and revealing.
November 26, 2021
Great book! I live in northern Florida where the action takes place and found the detailed descriptions of the woods, wetlands, plants and creatures found here to be beautiful and perfect. Mr. Brandon's writing has a poetic quality - that and a fine story of a 19th century boy trekking across a Florida wilderness make for a terrific book.
March 27, 2022
A riveting read of a tense post Civil War in Florida. The protagonist is a young boy, living on the east coast of Florida. Having just lost his mother, he tries to find a family connection many miles away on the opposite coast. In his search, he develops into the principled man his mother encouraged him to be.
July 11, 2024
This is some of the finest contemporary historical fiction I have read. Nods to Twain, Portis, McCarthy and other greats but a distinctly original voice in his delightful 12-year-old Gussie Dwyer. As I Florida Native, I appreciated Brandon's splendid descriptions of the Sunshine State's varied ecosystems. A superb traveling bildungsroman about the search for true kin in the ruined South.
November 13, 2021
A well-written sci-fi, rather than historical, novel that takes place on a similar but not identical world to our own, with many strange turns of speech and fanciful names of plants. In this case the past is not just another country but another world. (Just kidding. It’s meant to be a historical novel.)
January 15, 2022
Ivory Shoals, with its long, evocative descriptions, reminds me of Dickens in terms of the writing. The story, involving the quest of a 12-year-old boy to find his father, was reminiscent of News of the World, one of my favorites.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews