Stiltsville

by Susanna Daniel

When Frances accepts an invitation to visit Stiltsville, a community of
houses built on pilings in Biscayne Bay, she has no idea that her simple
"yes" to a new friend will determine the course of her life for the next two
dozen years. Set in Miami from the late '60s to the 1990s, Stiltsville is a
sweeping journey seen through the eyes of one woman as she experiences
love, motherhood, friendship, hurricanes, racial tension, and finally, a
tragic death in slow motion.

In her debut novel, Daniel describes the experiences of three generations
in one family whose spiritual heart is centered in a modest bungalow
built a few feet above the water.When Frances meets and marries Dennis,
she learns to live her life on the water, from bay to ocean to everglade to
bayou. She navigates through it all — infidelity, empty-nest syndrome, and
debilitating illness — sometimes with grace and humor, sometimes with
anger and bitterness, but always with the same people by her side.

Daniel excels in capturing the flavor and decadence of Miami as it
became a multicultural hotbed. In Stiltsville, she has woven factual events
into Frances's life from a tumultuous period that witnessed racial beatings,
the cocaine wars, and Hurricane Andrew. The result is a riveting novel
filled with pathos.

"Deeply engrossing..."
— Curtis Sittenfeld, author of American Wife

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Book Club, Family, Adult Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published August 3, 2010

About the author

Susanna Daniel is the author of three novels and makes her living coaching writers and guiding workshops with the Madison Writers’ Studio, which she co-founded in 2013 with author Michelle Wildgen.

Her debut novel, Stiltsville, was awarded the PEN/Bingham prize, and her second novel, Sea Creatures, was a Target Book Club pick. Her third novel, Girlfriending, a spinoff of her award-winning short story, "The Goddess of Illicit Choices," drops February of 2026 from Third Rail Press.

Susanna is a graduate of Columbia University and the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and has earned fellowships from the UW Institute for Creative Writing, the MacDowell Colony, and the UCross Foundation.

Susanna was born and raised in Miami, Florida, and has made her home in Madison, Wisconsin, with her two teens and one adorable mutt.

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'd read that this book would make me cry at the end, and as I approached the end I stubbornly decided I wouldn't cry, but my resistance was futile. I can still tear up thinking about the loveliness of the last few lines. This book follows a woman from the moment of meeting her future husband, through their marriage, their years of childrearing and beyond, and the writing is so compelling and vivid I felt I lived those years with her. Highly recommended.

[Bob Mustin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’d become jaded about modern American fiction, and the younger crop of fiction writers. What did they have to write about? I kept asking myself. Over the past couple of decades and until the past couple of years, we of the so-called middle class all lead pretty cush lives, leading to nothing much other than pettiness and banality. So, really, what was I to have expected of thirty- or forty-somethings who had sharpened their bland writer’s chops in MFA programs? But hoping beyond hope, I keep reading them.

That’s why Stiltsville was such a pleasant surprise. Fiction has been backed into a corner in the U.S. – genre makes the money, and non-fiction bleeds away would-be fiction writers. So enterprising writers have had to adapt. Daniel chose to write her fine book in first person, giving it a memoir feel, and that has added intimacy to what could have been yet another fictive effort about nothing. But here I should synopsize the story.

Frances, the narrator and central character, has found her way from Atlanta to Miami and tenuous friendship with a woman named Merse. Merse has been seeing a young man, Dennis, and despite herself, Frances falls for Dennis, and they become a couple. The story then becomes a chronicle of Frances’ continuing friendship with Merse, with Dennis’ sister, Bette, who early on discovers her romantic attraction to women, and of the marriage. Soon, a daughter, Margo, is born, Dennis settles somewhat uncomfortably into his slot in the legal profession. The couple have their ups and downs, but they’re minor. The couple ages, Margo grows up, goes to college, and marries. And Frances and Dennis then begin to cope with the trials of age.

Sounds pretty bland, doesn’t it? But as with Updike’s bland middle class characters, the gift to readers is in the telling. Daniel’s prose, as she introduces character after character, swings between backstory and each passing moment of past-tense present time, is near-flawless. MFA has been good to her, and she’s returned the favor to her readers. But wherein is the luster, other than her storytelling ability? Miami, Dade County, and the surrounding and encroaching waters, the weather – all these are as much characters as her people. Coastal life, as Hemingway and others have proven countless times, is more than a backdrop; human life in coastal areas has to adapt to the water, the heat, the hurricanes, the flooding, and Daniel, knowing this, takes full advantage of it.

The book is probably as much a real memoir as it is fiction, despite the author’s fully fleshed characters. Stiltsville is real; a clump of vacation houses built on stilts a mile or so offshore in Biscayne Bay. Daniel is gentle with the metaphor, but she clearly means the stilt community to parallel her characters in their ephemerality, their isolation, as well as their need to be tenuously connected.

Stiltsville isn’t without flaw, but it’s nearly so. It’s a fine effort by a gifted young writer, and this book deserves every bit of praise it gets.

[Ali M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was not what I expected at all. I was expecting light and fluffy. Instead, I found language that was clunky and ordinary and off putting. The first few pages I was disconcerted by the plainness of the story and the style of writing. But I quickly found that I wanted to read more. I wanted to know how Frances's story went. How did it all end? For me, it ended with a quiet contentedness about love and marriage, including my own.

I have often heard the phrase "marriage is hard" and it is a sentiment that I have never agreed with. If it's that hard you are married to the wrong person. This book captured, for me, the simplicity of a good marriage and the phases that it goes through over (hopefully) a long time. Sometimes you are just more into each other as a couple, or not as the case may be, and this ebbs and flows.

This is a love story, plain and simple. It is not grand or sweeping, it's everyday stuff. The ordinariness and clunkiness that I found so off putting in the early pages ultimately became the anchor for the book. This could be my life. It could be your life. In the end I cared very much about Frances and Dennis and their family and I shed a little tear when it was over. This book reminded me of the everyday beauty that surrounds us and the importance of all those people in my life who I love.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daniel herself, at her first Madison reading, almost apologetically said that her book doesn't contain any cliffhangers. This is true. It is a quiet book, but a quiet book can be incredibly powerful, and STILTSVILLE is. Susanna Daniel's anatomy of one couple's marriage was like quicksand -- it drew me in slowly at first, and then the characters she rendered so fully and artfully came to consume my thoughts. I stayed up late last night reading the last 70 pages. I had only intended to read a few, but every time I turned out the light, I ended up turning it back on again (3 times in all), until I finished...and sobbed. This one will hit you right in the heart.

[Sara Strand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susanna writes makes you question whether this is actually a real love story or not. Because it's not a love story like you see in movies. It's like a for real love story, where two people fall in love and get married young, and they question whether it was the right decision or not, someone thinks about infidelity, and it's the every day problems of an ordinary couple raising a daughter.

You find yourself nodding your head along because everything is so true to what it's really like to be married and be raising a family, and the stress of the unexpected. And through it all- they have Stiltsville. The sanctuary that held the family together, the rock that reminded them what life was about, and the place that seems to hold it all together.

I won't tell you what ultimately happens to Stiltsville or the family as a whole, but I will tell you I could not put this book down. The very last line of the book reads:

"I held my husband in my arms and pressed my face to his face. I kissed his lips. I told him I loved him. I told him, Thank you, over and over. I told him, Thank you for my life."


And while this normally wouldn't be significant to anyone, it is to me. Because while I don't have the perfect marriage and we absolutely struggle each and every single day- I know that no matter what, I will always be grateful to Matt for the life he's given me. Without him I wouldn't have the things I have, I wouldn't be the mom to two awesome kids, I wouldn't be where I am today without Matt next to me. And so I challenge you to think about that the next time you feel like you're at rock bottom in your marriage or are having a hard time not stabbing your spouse- what are all of the positive things in your life that are because of them in some small way.

I think it's so easy for us to give up, cheat on someone, get divorced, or just mentally check out because staying married is a lot of work. It requires patience, forvgiveness, the ability to break down what you're angry about and see what part specifically is making you angry and why, and most of all, humility. It's not always going to be easy or perfect- and you have to know going in that there are going to be a lot of days where you will question your decision. And that's OK.

I highly encourage everybody to read this. I loved this book so much and I can't stop gushing about it. I got my hair cut and talked for four ladies about it. Everyone at work has heard me rave about this book. I even walked past a lady looking at books and I completely started telling her how amazing this book was. Because it is. You have to read it.

[mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

This IS women's Fiction - and also so obviously the product of creative writing workshops - all the i's dotted and the t's crossed. But, it lacks grit. There really is nothing here but a fairly boring, average life of an an American woman ... who gets married (once) has a child (one) who grows up. It begins in 1970 and runs through 2004. It takes place in Miami and covers that city's growth and historical events (but not the famous 2000 election.). The tone fluctuates between low grade depression and maudlin. There is no joy, no laughter, no anger. The house on stilts (Stiltsville) is a good metaphor. Life (the ocean) sort of rolls along separate from (below) the characters(emotionless) and then a hurricane comes and knocks it down (death). The writing is good, and the back and forth - the foreshadowing and backtracking didn't bother me. There just isn't much drama here, but I found it informative ... Oh, so that's what it's like to be average. I quit reading on page 244 and skimmed to the end. No tears here.

[Les · Rating 5 out of 5]

Actual rating: 4.75/5

Marisa de los Santos. Anna Quindlen. Kate Maloy. Elizabeth Berg. Jeanne Ray. These talented authors have all written beautiful novels that take the ordinary and make it extraordinary. Their books explore the everyday life of mothers, wives and friends, depicting scenes of domestic life with believable situations and authentic voices. These "comfort" reads are the sort that don't involve wars or murders. There are no car chases, no mysteries to solve, no supernatural disturbances. They may not be the sort of read my husband would enjoy, but I love them! I love the sense of familiarity to my own life. I love the sense of affirmation I feel after reading a passage about the dynamics between mothers and daughters. And I love to read about long-standing marriages, full of the predictable ebb and flow of love and happiness. Daniel has written a tender story that is sure to satisfy those who share my enthusiasm for women's fiction, as well as those who enjoy reading anything set near the ocean, as I do.

As for my new hometown, I'd fallen quickly and surely in love with it. I loved to drive through the dense neighborhoods with my car windows down and smell the rotting sweetness of a ripening mango tree. I loved to eavesdrop on the loud conversations of the ladies at the deli counter, ferreting out select phrases using the lazy Spanish I'd acquired over the years. I loved the lychees and star fruit that fell into my yard over the neighbor's fence, and I loved the bright bougainvillea that dropped its papery pink petals onto my lawn. I loved the rusty barges loaded with stolen bicycles that plodded down the Miami River and out to sea. I loved the half-dozen chilly February nights, all the windows in the house open and the fireplace going. I loved the limestone and the coral rock, the fountains and the ocean and the winding blue canals. I loved the giant banyans and the dense wet mangroves and the gumbo-limbo trees and the many-sized, many-shaped palms. I loved the pelicans and manatees and stone crabs and storms and even the thick, damp summers.


Final thoughts: When the frigid, dark days of winter become unbearable, I'll pull this book from the shelf to read a second time, warming my chilled bones vicariously through Daniel's beautiful prose, dreaming of the day when, like Frances, I can walk around the house in nothing but a pair of shorts, tank top and sandals. Now I understand why so many retirees settle in Florida!

[Patty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stiltsville
By
Suzanna Daniel


When I first read the reviews and praise and hype for this book I was eager to get it immediately. It sounded like my kind of a book and I wanted to read it as soon as possible. It was a bit of a slow read at first. I liked the story and was getting interested in the characters but I started to wonder why I wanted to read it…why did I bump all of my other books down to the bottom of my queue and choose this one? But soon I was caught up in the events in the lives of this Florida family. Frances, Dennis, Marse, Bette, Gloria, Grady, Margo, Scott and many other characters. The only way that I can describe this novel is sort of like the peeling of an artichoke. You read about one event and that leads you to the next event and the next and the next and the next after that. I think for me it was reading about ordinary people dealing with all of the day to day and year to year events in their lives. The struggles and the triumphs and the mistakes and the joys are all wrapped up in these houses and the neighborhoods in and around Miami beginning in the 1950’s and ending at the end point of a 26 year marriage.

Stilthouses, of course, play an important role in this story. It is where Dennis and Frances met…it is where their story begins. There are actually still stilthouses in Biscayne Bay near Miami, Florida. They look odd and unsafe and beautiful. The stilthouse in Dennis’s family seems to be a point of refuge and happiness for them during the various upheavals in their lives. They provide an escape and a getaway during trying times.

I loved this book. It touched my heart and soul. I cried as the story ended. Suzanna Daniel writes lyrically and beautifully and masterfully. It was one of my favorite reading experiences so far this year. This story and this family will stay in my thoughts for a long time.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully written and lovely. Stiltsville was a very compelling read, and every time I picked up the book, I felt myself drawn into Frances's world. Susanna Daniel has a style of writing that I really enjoy, one that is warm and inviting and insightful. You feel as though you are being let in, in the most intimate way, to a real life that is messy and unexpected and beautiful. As a South Floridian who left Florida long ago, reading this book was like stepping into the warm turquoise waters of home. Wonderful.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

i feel funny giving anything 5 stars but I really devoured this book. I actually liked the first 2/3 best, before the major "drama" started, but it was ALL beautifully written ~ and I felt it all in my gut. The narrator was someone I'd be proud to have as a friend. Great book.

[Keija · Rating 4 out of 5]

From page one, Daniel draws the reader into the exotic and glittery Miami milieu that makes up her debut novel's setting. In Frances, we have a narrator we can admire and sympathize with and cheer on--her voice is compelling in its even-toned compassion for the people around her. In a mere 300 pages, Daniel creates a rich and many-layered world around Frances and Dennis DuVal. Frances, a Georgia native, meets Dennis in Stiltsville, falls in love, and moves to Miami. In an instant, the trajectory of her life is forever altered, and as the novel unfolds, Daniel gives us a Miami that is flawed but gorgeous, a place well worth forsaking any other life you might have made for yourself. Like Miami, the DuVals' marriage is complex and wonderful--it seems that they are both built for marriage's constant companionship, even while many of their friends prove less traditional, or less able to withstand marriage's natural elasticity. Daniel introduces such a strong cast of supporting characters--Dennis' rebel sister, Bette; strong and unsentimental family friend Marse; vulnerable and doted-on daughter Margo--that by the end of the book, I felt as if I'd lost an entire family I'd never even had. In that way, I wish STILTSVILLE were a serial TV show rather than a movie, so it could go on and on and on. These characters, by book's end, were my friends, and I cared deeply for them. Mid-way through the book, during the child-rearing years, I found myself getting mildly impatient--I found myself less invested in parenting's attendant mundanities, such as parent-teacher conferences (yes, Daniel's style is so ultra-realist that life's smaller moments find a stage in this book), but because Daniel's language is luminous, her prose understated but utterly resonant, I was able to ride it out with pleasure and only a twinge of impatience. I hope it doesn't take her another ten years to write her next book--I'm eager for more from this fantastic writer.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not the type of book that I am normally drawn to. I like my books a bit more strange, to have a bit more intrigue. Sometimes I say I don't like to read books that are "just" about people. This, however, was a treat to read, as it was written by a woman Jon and I know in Madison (mainly through poker and ultimate frisbee games with her husband).

I really enjoyed reading it and in fact read it very quickly. I thought the sections were paced absolutely perfectly -- setting up or hinting at some sort of conflict early on and then back-tracking to describe its development. It was just enough of a draw to make each section very interesting and very compelling. I also really liked the characters and enjoyed reading about their lives. Additionally, the book overall was very touching and certain turns of phrases that were used I thought were just spectacular. One that stuck out in my mind even after the book was finished, after the main character's first kiss with her future husband: "I cherished the sense of caged joy." It's a feeling I remember well.

Because of my association with the author, I also read quite a few book reviews prior to reading, something I also tend not to do, so I went into it with quite a few pre-conceptions. Such pre-conceptions usually do more harm than good (even if it means simply that I become unable to trust my own judgment of a book), but in this case they did not do any damage. And I found the overall experience of reading very calming and very satisfying.

[Mrtruscott · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5. I read this for its Florida setting - the title is based on a community of somewhat rickety stilt houses perched on Biscayne Bay. And oh, Florida was a mega dose of Vitamin D.

A young woman on vacation meets a Floridian, falls in love and marries into a Coral Gables family and circle of friends. Years pass, storms blow through, a daughter grows up. A deceptively quiet novel that reads like anyone’s story. It is at the end of a chapter or after time passed in the sections of this book that the ‘plot,’ per se, revealed its subtle, tidal pull. I was reminded of Wallace Stegner, but with a contemporary and distinctively female voice.

Not a lot happens in this beautifully written book, except entire lives. The same way that newlyweds look up and say, wow, we are 50 now - where did the time go? The Florida setting was an added bonus to this novel — blue water, boats, palm trees, canals, beaches.

[LindaW · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of a marriage told from the wife's point of view. Written so slice of life real that the reader is immersed in the lives of this family. Not much action, no high drama, just life happening between Frances and Dennis from the day they meet until the sad ending. The relationships of each one and their daughter Margo are so normal and ring so true that there is no questioning their reality. This family during the 20+ years of the marriage, lived and loved near Miami, amongst family and friends, on land and on the water at their vacation cabin at Stiltsville. When I started reading I wasn't expecting to like this book so much, but the author just keeps the story moving ahead and keeps you turning the pages to learn what happens next. I got teary a few times but the ending made me cry. Thank you, Susanna Daniel for writing such a lovely book.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stiltsville is firmly in the Anne Rivers Siddons and Maeve Binchey school: a saga (although this one is shorter than most) of a person's life. It's not deep reading, but a good solid beach read.

Frances' life is rather, well, unfixed. She seems to drift in and out of things - her job, her relationship with Dennis, her moving to Miami, her marriage, etc.. There's no sense that she's really passionate about anything that happens to her or her family. Even her husband Dennis' ALS and eventual death seem to be met with the same blase nature with which she meets everything that's come before. The historical mentions could just as easily have been left out of the narrative because they didn't add or change anything.

ARC provided by the publisher.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looking for the perfect end of summer read? Look no further than the debut novel Stiltsville by Susanna Daniel. Opening in 1969, in the small community of houses called Stitlsville, built on pilings in the middle of Biscayne Bay, the reader is immediately captivated by the main character, Frances, as she meets the man that will become her husband. The young couple’s house in Stiltsville serves as an object lesson about the precarious nature of life, marriage, and the passage of time. Stiltsville is in turns the story of a marriage, a young girls’ experience as a wife and mother, and the coming of age of Miami. Daniel profoundly illustrates the unexpected joys and sorrows of life, and is an author to watch.

[Melissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

NOTE: I listened to this book on audio

Ugh, this was torturous. I can't believe I made it through the whole thing. This book was about nothing and full of boring and unlikable characters. There's really no storyline, no point, no drama, no nothing. I don't get it.

The reader of the audio book didn't help; she's the type of person who pronounces the H in words like "what." [shiver]

[Fred Forbes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful to finish the year with a great book! When I first encountered this novel I scanned it, found discussions of love between a woman and her BFF, detailed descriptions of food and clothing, etc. Arrgh! “Chick-lit” thinks I, run Fred, run. Then I noticed that the author graduated from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. This is the place whose graduates often write in “clever” fashion, maybe to prove they are true “artistes” or avant-garde. You know, they leave quote marks off dialogue, skip rules of grammar and punctuation, produce material in a disjointed and disorganized fashion, etc. So, I tend to tread carefully before getting into a book if that education is in the author’s background.
But, there was a strong pull for me. For a number of years, I had a 26 foot sailboat moored in South Florida and after working the South Florida office or just for a weekend getaway we would sail Biscayne Bay and into the Keys. In the Bay are a number of buildings, built on pilings (stilts) and known as “Stiltsville” and as we would sail by and around I would wonder – how did they get there, who owns them, who regulates them, how do they withstand tropical storms, etc.? I thought perhaps this book might answer those questions. (It does.)
Fortunately the writing turned out to be polished and professional, the great style that tends to disappear, letting you focus on the story rather than the distraction of strange prose. The story is a good one, the characterization well done and for me, as a Floridian, the events reported and the environmental descriptions were spot on and brought back some profound memories – good and bad. And, by the way, it was great to gain some serious insight into the female perspective on life, love, family and friends.
So, glad to have read it and will be looking for other tales by this writer.

[Donna Teat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. Grabbed this off my daughter’s nightstand who I hope also read it and enjoyed it as much as I did. I will write a proper review when I am less emotional with vivid memories of the parallel paths between the main character and me, strengthened by just a two year gap in our ages. Will be diving into the author’s second novel as soon as I deem it appropriate, which also takes place in my hometown.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love a good character novel and this was a great one. I’m going to be remembering the characters as though they are people I once actually knew. This is a simple story of a women’s life and her one love but the writing was compelling. The location of the novel, Miami, was a character all its own. Well done!

[Lydia Presley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love being surprised by a book. When I first cracked open Stiltsville and read the opening chapter, I formed an opinion of the book and was a little hesitant to move forward. The actions by the key character touched close to home for me and I didn't know if this was a book I'd be able to get into, let alone give a fair shot.

But then I kept reading, because I needed to know more. I needed to know why people were still talking about this book. Plus, there was something about Frances and her friend Marse that hooked me.

So while I expected a book that would deal with a broken friendship, what I got was a look at everlasting friendship, a look at marriage that survives despite disappointing jobs, loss of children, debilitating disease, infidelity and more. In short, in Stiltsville I got a dose of really hard reality told in the most gentle way possible.

Sometimes, books that deal with these heavier issues can seem a little "fairy-tale like". Things magically go right, the right events happen, the story is manipulated by the author to give the reader a sense of closure. Susanna Daniel managed to give me that sense of closure without any of the fairy-tale nonsense. Not only that, but she dabbled in things that had me dreading turning the page, but she didn't go there - because she didn't need to. Just the touch, the very idea that a wrong choice might be made was enough to shock me into realizing just how precarious life can be and how fragile relationships are if not treated correctly.

While this isn't a light summer read, the setting of Miami, the descriptions of the water, the house on stilts - all these add up to a read that will make you think, but still give you that summertime feeling. Look Stiltsville up if you are wanting a break from fluff.

[Tripfiction · Rating 5 out of 5]

Novel set in Miami (a cracking good book)

The best book I have read so far this year!

Sensitively and well written, Susanna develops her characters in a manner that makes you feel that you have met them. The book is written through the eyes of cool collected Frances taking us with her as she recounts various events in her life, starting with meeting her husband Dennis.

The book simply follows her life and those around her. Meetings, friendship, marriage, motherhood. Other characters stay throughout the book, sister–in–law, friends, in-laws. That makes it sound rather dull, but dull it is not. Susanna uses her talent too, putting it simply, and writes a cracking good book.

It is based in Miami and informs the reader of the changes that happened over decades as the city moves from the relative quiet of the 60’s to a changed and much different city of the 90’s. Her description of hurricanes and the effect that it had on everyday life is worth reading.

The title Stiltsville refers to a holiday house built on stilts, offering a haven for weekend getaways with boats, fishing, sunbathing and general partying. It plays a pivotal role as the years go by, taking us through courtship, parenthood and changing relationships both in and out of Frances’ marriage.

I hope that you enjoy the book as much as I did.

This review first appeared on our blog: http://www.tripfiction.com/novel-set-...

[window · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's hard for me to say whether I loved this book because of its many parallels to my life or because of the story itself or a combination of the two.

Like the main character's daughter Margo, I spent many weekends and summer days at the Red House in Stiltsville as a kid in the 1970s and a bit into the 1980s and some of my favorite memories were made there. The author spent time at the same house and her description of the house in the book made it feel like I was walking through my memory. Everything from the wood paneling and kitschy interior to the double bunk beds and wide porches was just how it was. The eel was real too.

I grew up in Miami during the Mariel boat lift and the race riots in the late 70s and early 80s and watched Miami go from a place where you could sleep with your windows open and doors unlocked to a place on edge.

Like Margo, I was also at the University of Florida during the student murders in 1990 and came home from school to help my family in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

Aside from my personal connection to the story, I thought it was a beautifully written study of the life of a marriage and a family. And yes, although very few books have made me cry, I did shed a few tears at the end. I also hugged my sleeping husband a little closer.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much has been said about this novel. That it, "stands out due to its lovely, unexpected normalcy,” that it has lush descriptions, honest characterization and that the language is quiet and compelling in its power. All of these things are true. This book is hard to put down and maybe one of the best I've read in months. All at once you want to get to the end but you don't want it to be over. Each event, an event that could happen in your own life, is purposefully and perfectly placed giving the book a sense of reality and truthfulness that not all fiction has. The main character, Frances, is consistent and engaging in her observations and thoughtfulness and the place jumps off the page and breathes almost as many full, complete, alive breaths as the characters themselves. Be warned that you will most likely cry at the end and that you'll care for these characters as though they were your friends. Daniel shows true talent and grace as an author and I look forward to her next work!

[Emi Yoshida · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story about 26 year old Frances who travels to a friend's wedding in Miami from her home in Atlanta. While there she is befriended by super cool Marse, a girl who is taller and prettier and sexier than her who is better at swimming and boating and fishing than she is, and who I kind of wish the book had been more about than Frances. Marse invites Frances to come stay with her, tells her about a boy named Dennis she has a crush on, and then all of a sudden he falls in love with Frances, and subsequently marries her. Years go by and Frances goes on about her own looks at length, but also about how not superficial she is (guffaw); she and Dennis have a baby girl while Marse remains single. There is lots of other family drama (though not super dramatic) involving several interesting characters, but then we meet a boyfriend of Marse's named Paul, and he too hits on Frances. The first half of this book was brainless and narcissistic and then author Daniel redeemed herself by introducing a topic of actual substance, with Dennis contracting and ultimately succumbing to ALS.

[Debbie Maskus · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise of the story sounds like a great novel, but Daniel drags down the story with wanderings onto less traveled streets. One of the worst scenarios in the book has to do with daughter Margo at a slumber party, Margo calls her parents crying for them to come get her. After a huge detour, the reader discovers the reason for the tears. The story about the stilt house off the coast of Miami is interesting, as well as the events happening in Miami. BUT-Daniel sugar coats the story. I knew from the first this would be a lackluster story, when the main characters (in mid 20's when the story begins) avoid sex like the plague. Given all the opportunities, why do Frances and Dennis abstain? The book does not deal in reality, Frances does not work when she leaves Atlanta, and Dennis works now and then(it seems), how do they survive? They always have money for trips and entertainment, etc. No one gets mad, and there are plenty of scenes when emotions should have boiled.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely terrific first novel about a long marriage set against the background of Miami and the now defunct summer community of houses known as Stilstville built in Biscanye Bay. Why this novel is so effective is hard to say, but the setting and historical events form an effective background for the story. Keep a tissue handy.

[Jéanpaul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great novel by a first-time published novelist who we will be hearing a lot more from. A great writer. And the back-story about the writing of the novel is a great story in of itself. Set in Miami it is a wonderful novel.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

good story about family and changed--great beach read because it takes place near a beach house. Full review to come.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a little lighter than what I usually read, but it was unexpectedly moving. It reminded me a little of Anne Tyler in a Miami setting.