Wes Avery, a tail gunner during WWII, is a good man. He loves his wife and daughter and works hard at his Texaco Station not far from McCoy Air Force base near Orlando, Florida. His wife, Sarah, has not been the same since her hysterectomy. Now with an approaching hurricane, she is withdrawing from reality and popping pills.
His daughter
Charlotte is in her senior year of high school. She's caught up in
being selected as a member of the homecoming court and falling in
love with Emilio, a Cuban refugee boy. Avery likes the boy well
enough, but Sarah doesn't want Charlotte associating with him. This
creates tension in the family and raises the specter of the family
secret.
As if the
approaching hurricane weren't enough, Avery notices the buildup of
aircraft, including U2 stealth aircraft, at McCoy. This is the start
of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Everyone is worried, but it affects
Sarah especially.
The description of
Florida at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis is excellent. For
anyone alive at the time, it will bring back memories; for younger
people, it provides a glimpse of what life was like at the time.
Wes Avery, the main
character, is well done. He's struggling with a family situation he
doesn't understand, trying to manage his gas station, and keep his
fear for his family in check. The other characters, Sarah and
Charlotte, felt sketchy. Sarah is a fairly typical wife and mother
caught in the trap of too many pills and a harrowing time. Charlotte
makes only fleeting appearances except for the beginning and end.
I enjoyed the book
for the glimpse of history and recommend it for that reason. Some of
the plot didn't work for me. The family secret seemed to be dragged
in at the end, and the conclusion wasn't satisfying.
I reviewed this book
for BantamDell.
McCarthy on the Writing Process:
I guess my “writing process” is a holdover from when my two sons
were young and my writing time was bookended by school drop offs and
pickups. I was then, and still am, a morning person, which by default
makes me a morning writer. These days, I brew strong coffee and
attempt, by the end of the first cup, to have conquered the daily
Sudoku in The LA Times. I carry my second cup to my desk and
check emails, answering only those that can’t wait till the
afternoon. Then I write, sometimes well, sometimes not, for three to
four hours every day. What’s important—I know this from years of
experiment and experience—is keeping my butt in the chair and my
fingers moving on the keyboard till the good stuff shows up. Early or
late, it eventually shows up. I break for lunch, always, and then
edit afterward in the afternoon. I should probably cop to the fact
that my morning process often begins the night before when, head on
my pillow, I send a message to my subconscious about what I hope and
need to accomplish writing-wise the next day, and I ask for any
assistance available. More often than not, the answer is there when I
wake up. I’m not always writing historical fiction, by the way. I
also do a fair amount of commercial freelance writing, too. Gotta pay
the bills between pub dates, you know? Alas.
About the Author:
Susan
Carol McCarthy is
the award-winning author of three novels, Lay
That Trumpet in Our Hands, True
Fires, and A
Place We Knew Well, and
the nonfiction Boomers
101: The Definitive Collection.
Her debut novel received the Chautauqua South Fiction Prize and has
been widely selected by libraries and universities for their One
Book, One Community and Freshman Year Read programs. A native
Floridian, she lives in Carlsbad, California.
