Tina Egnoski

Small-town Florida, 1976. Life is squeaky-clean. Nothing ever happens here and if it does, the only response is a polite smile. Seventeen-year-old Abby Newman and her best friend Dana set out to defy the town motto: Hear, Speak, See No Evil. They smoke, drink, push the boundaries of sexual exploration and break into neighborhood houses. When Dana steals an expensive object, their innocent prank turns into a crime. The theft comes to light, along with other secrets, and the strength of their friendship is challenged. In the land explorer Ponce de Leon named Pascua Florida--Feast of Flowers--Abby learns about loyalty, betrayal and the power of forgiveness.

In these four stories, Tina Egnoski’s characters struggle with sibling rivalry, race, grief, and poverty while remaining decidedly rooted in the Southern landscape, particularly Florida, where the author grew up. The atmosphere tends to be sultry. The terrain is as varied as the breezy coast of the Gulf and the stifling heat of a fruit grove. Smell the stench of a brackish river; feel your pores tighten in the salty air.