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Bands of a Small Hurricane
*** From the '21 American Fiction Award Finalist, '21 Shelf Unbound Indie Award Finalist, and '21 Chanticleer International Somerset Prize Shortlisted author of Thieves, Beasts & Men comes an enthralling coming-of-age epic ***
JULY 1967.
Daniella Quinn has lived all of her 14 years in the Florida Keys, and is beginning high school with an eye toward budding adulthood and newfound popularity. She even has a sweetheart—a boy vacationing with his family. Summer of Love, indeed.
Though well-sheltered by her manic-depressive mother and adoring (if occasionally drunk) father, Danni finds herself drawn to a mysterious new girl at school, whose individuality and intrigue offer a glimpse at the larger world beyond the islands. And when Danni forms a relationship with a group of nudists living on a secret beach, she begins to question everything she’s ever been taught about family, honesty, beauty, sex. Even the very definition of home.
Richard Quinn is a God of the sea, if only in his mind. But life has a way of growing tedious for even the boldest of men. So when a stranger arrives in the Florida Keys with a plan to rescue her brother from behind The Iron Curtain, Richard seizes the opportunity to reclaim his fading heroism, consequences be damned.
But as Richard's daring project unfolds in secret, Danni begins to question the integrity of the father she’s always worshipped, and whether or not she could be (or ever was) safe in his care.
Experiencing the challenges of teenage romance, a new society burgeoning with free love and recreational drugs, an escalating mistrust of her family, and a longing to run away with a community of hippies, Bands of a Small Hurricane follows one girl’s sexual revolution and discovery of self amid the mangrove tangled water of Florida's southern edge.
JULY 1967.
Daniella Quinn has lived all of her 14 years in the Florida Keys, and is beginning high school with an eye toward budding adulthood and newfound popularity. She even has a sweetheart—a boy vacationing with his family. Summer of Love, indeed.
Though well-sheltered by her manic-depressive mother and adoring (if occasionally drunk) father, Danni finds herself drawn to a mysterious new girl at school, whose individuality and intrigue offer a glimpse at the larger world beyond the islands. And when Danni forms a relationship with a group of nudists living on a secret beach, she begins to question everything she’s ever been taught about family, honesty, beauty, sex. Even the very definition of home.
Richard Quinn is a God of the sea, if only in his mind. But life has a way of growing tedious for even the boldest of men. So when a stranger arrives in the Florida Keys with a plan to rescue her brother from behind The Iron Curtain, Richard seizes the opportunity to reclaim his fading heroism, consequences be damned.
But as Richard's daring project unfolds in secret, Danni begins to question the integrity of the father she’s always worshipped, and whether or not she could be (or ever was) safe in his care.
Experiencing the challenges of teenage romance, a new society burgeoning with free love and recreational drugs, an escalating mistrust of her family, and a longing to run away with a community of hippies, Bands of a Small Hurricane follows one girl’s sexual revolution and discovery of self amid the mangrove tangled water of Florida's southern edge.
448 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 4, 2022
2335 people want to read
About the author
Shan Leah
3 books19 followersShan Leah's debut literary thriller, Thieves, Beasts & Men, was a Finalist in the 2021 American Fiction Awards for Best New Fiction, a Finalist for the 2021 Shelf Unbound Award for Best Fiction, and was shortlisted for the CIBA (Chanticleer International Book Award) Somerset Prize for Best Literary and Contemporary Fiction 2021.
Her second release, Bands of a Small Hurricane, was a Finalist for the 2022 Eric Hoffer Book Award, and was awarded the Creative Pinellas Professional Artist Grant for Literature in April 2022.
Her newest release launches the trilogy Sex for Poets, a "high art literary interpretation of erotica". Sex for Poets: The Awakening, the first of the series, is available now.
She's also a fine artist and freelance photographer, and her work has been published in numerous books and magazines, including Black & White Magazine, Black+White Photography Magazine, Studio Visit Magazine, Emboss Magazine, Private Residences North America, At Home Magazine, and three editions of fine art compilation books by Out of Step Books. Her work was also recognized as a grantee of the 2017 Impact Returns Grant.
Shan is a lover/writer of dark literary fiction. Surrounded by an endless supply of pens, papers, paints, and clay, she grew up in the Florida Keys and was taught proper wheel-throwing techniques before mastering her shoelaces. She currently lives in Dunedin, Fl, with her brilliant kid and small herd of cats.
She finds beauty dreadfully boring.
Her second release, Bands of a Small Hurricane, was a Finalist for the 2022 Eric Hoffer Book Award, and was awarded the Creative Pinellas Professional Artist Grant for Literature in April 2022.
Her newest release launches the trilogy Sex for Poets, a "high art literary interpretation of erotica". Sex for Poets: The Awakening, the first of the series, is available now.
She's also a fine artist and freelance photographer, and her work has been published in numerous books and magazines, including Black & White Magazine, Black+White Photography Magazine, Studio Visit Magazine, Emboss Magazine, Private Residences North America, At Home Magazine, and three editions of fine art compilation books by Out of Step Books. Her work was also recognized as a grantee of the 2017 Impact Returns Grant.
Shan is a lover/writer of dark literary fiction. Surrounded by an endless supply of pens, papers, paints, and clay, she grew up in the Florida Keys and was taught proper wheel-throwing techniques before mastering her shoelaces. She currently lives in Dunedin, Fl, with her brilliant kid and small herd of cats.
She finds beauty dreadfully boring.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 11, 2022
The year is 1967. Fourteen-year-old Danni is on the cusp of beginning high school where her handsome father Richard is a popular English teacher. Danni's mother suffers from bouts of depression which puts a strain on the family of three. Danni stumbles into womanhood feeling unmoored as her father attempts to fill the void in his life with a dangerous mission.
Bands of a Small Hurricane is a lush and sensual historical novel that revels in the setting of the late 1960s Florida Keys. The father-daughter dynamic melds the emotional chaos of a midlife crisis with coming-of-age angst. Richard's intense need to do something life-changing leaves Danni in the wind without a sail as her parents' relationship deteriorates.
I love the dual storylines that alternately bring Danni and Richard together only to wrench them into their separate existences. Danni is a highly relatable and accessible character that pulls you into her emotional turmoil. Her father's struggle for meaning and adoration echoes Danni's need to be truly seen in the devastating fallout of her mother's mental illness.
Treat yourself to the decadence of Shan Leah's sophomore novel. This beautifully written story is emotionally affecting and intensely immersive. You'll hear the surf, taste the salt on your tongue, and feel the sand between your toes as you follow Danni and Richard's journeys to self-realization.
Bands of a Small Hurricane is a lush and sensual historical novel that revels in the setting of the late 1960s Florida Keys. The father-daughter dynamic melds the emotional chaos of a midlife crisis with coming-of-age angst. Richard's intense need to do something life-changing leaves Danni in the wind without a sail as her parents' relationship deteriorates.
I love the dual storylines that alternately bring Danni and Richard together only to wrench them into their separate existences. Danni is a highly relatable and accessible character that pulls you into her emotional turmoil. Her father's struggle for meaning and adoration echoes Danni's need to be truly seen in the devastating fallout of her mother's mental illness.
Treat yourself to the decadence of Shan Leah's sophomore novel. This beautifully written story is emotionally affecting and intensely immersive. You'll hear the surf, taste the salt on your tongue, and feel the sand between your toes as you follow Danni and Richard's journeys to self-realization.
January 29, 2023
The writing in this novel made me feel like I was present in the story in a way I have never experienced before. The descriptions of the setting were so immersive!
Also, can we talk about the design of the book and the packaging it was sent in?!? I've never received a giveaway book that had that much thought put into it. Loved it!
Also, can we talk about the design of the book and the packaging it was sent in?!? I've never received a giveaway book that had that much thought put into it. Loved it!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews