FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
WINNER OF THE STORY PRIZE
ONE OF NPR'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR
From the universally acclaimed, New York Times bestselling author of
Fates and Furies, Matrix, and the highly-anticipated The Vaster
Wilds
**Florida is a "superlative" book (Boston Globe), "frequently funny"
(San Francisco Chronicle), "brooding, inventive and often moving" (NPR
Fresh Air) --as Groff is recognized as "Florida's unofficial poet
laureate, as Joan Didion was for California." (Washington Post) *
In her thrilling new book, Lauren Groff brings the reader into a
physical world that is at once domestic and wild--a place where the
hazards of the natural world lie waiting to pounce, yet the greatest
threats and mysteries are still of an emotional, psychological nature. A
family retreat can be derailed by a prowling panther, or by a sexual
secret. Among those navigating this place are a resourceful pair of
abandoned sisters; a lonely boy, grown up; a restless, childless couple,
a searching, homeless woman; and an unforgettable, recurring
character--a steely and conflicted wife and mother.
The stories in this collection span characters, towns, decades, even
centuries, but Florida--its landscape, climate, history, and state of
mind--becomes its gravitational center: an energy, a mood, as much as a
place of residence. Groff transports the reader, then jolts us alert
with a crackle of wit, a wave of sadness, a flash of cruelty, as she
writes about loneliness, rage, family, and the passage of time. With
shocking accuracy and effect, she pinpoints the moments and decisions
and connections behind human pleasure and pain, hope and despair, love
and fury--the moments that make us alive. Startling, precise, and
affecting, Florida is a magnificent achievement.
