One sunny morning in 1969, near the end of her first trip to Miami,
26-year-old Frances Ellerby finds herself in a place called Stiltsville,
a community of houses built on pilings in the middle of Biscayne Bay.
It's the first time the Atlanta native has been out on the open water,
and she's captivated. On the dock of a stilt house, with the dazzling
skyline in the distance and the unknowable ocean beneath her, she meets
the house's owner, Dennis DuValand, and a new future reveals itself.
Turning away from her quiet, predictable life back home, Frances moves
to Miami to be with Dennis. Over time, she earns the confidence of his
wild-at-heart sister and wins the approval of his oldest friend. Frances
and Dennis marry and have a child, but rather than growing complacent
about their good fortune, they continue to face the challenges of
intimacy and the complicated city they call home.
Stiltsville is the family's island oasis--until suddenly it's gone, and
Frances is forced to figure out how to make her family work on dry land.
Against a backdrop of lush tropical beauty, Frances and Dennis struggle
with the mutability of love and Florida's weather, as well as
temptation, chaos, and disappointment. But just when Frances thinks
she's reached some semblance of higher ground, she must confront an
obstacle so great that even the lessons she's learned about navigating
the uncharted waters of family life can't keep them afloat.
With Stiltsville, Susanna Daniel weaves the beauty, violence, and
humanity of Miami's coming-of-age with an enduring story of a marriage's
beginning, maturity, and heartbreaking demise. Suzanne Toren's limpid
narration perfectly complements Daniel's incandescent prose.
