Summary from Goodreads:

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.

My Review:

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.

About the Author

• Susanna’s website
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• On Twitter

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from TLC Book Tours. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”