I am excited to announce the November-into-December EDIWTB book club pick: Stiltsville, by Susanna Daniel. I've been looking for a while for the right pick, and when I came across this review of Stiltsville on Nomad Reader, I knew I had found it.
From Amazon:
It may be a sign of the times that many stories about marriage unfold on a stage of high emotional drama, where the sparks stop flying and start sparring, for better or worse. There may be catharsis in those kinds of stories, but there's often little joy, which is what makes this quiet and tender debut so disarmingly good. Stiltsville is a story of a marriage that begins with serendipity–that holiest of relationship grails–one warm summer day in Miami. It's 1969 when girl (Frances, the novel's clear-eyed, guileless narrator) meets boy (Dennis, who in Frances's estimation is "careless but lucky") at one of a copse of houses built on stilts in Miami's Biscayne Bay. That such a place existed is incredible now, and in the scenes that reconstruct its peculiar beauty, Susanna Daniel ushers you into an exotic and unpredictable corner of the country. It's a perfect place to fall in love, and Frances and Dennis do, without fanfare or pretense. Theirs is a love that almost instantly becomes constant and real, full of simple happiness that makes it possible to weather the storms that come.
Carrie at Nomad Reader called Stiltsville "the most emotionally engaging novel I've read in quite some time. I often struggle writing reviews for books I adore, and I found nothing to criticize in Stiltsville."
I'm sold. Who else is in?
If you'd like to read Stiltsville with the EDIWTB book club, send me an email at [email protected] with your name, address, and email. Once the books are mailed out from Harper, I will set a date for the discussion. On that day, I will post a review here, and the conversation will continue in the comments. Harper has generously agreed to send books to 20 EDIWTB readers (THANK YOU HARPER!), so send in your information soon!