SEAS OUTSIDE THE REEF - Softcover

Brackenbury, Rosalind

4

14 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1880284413 ISBN 13: 9781880284414

Publisher: Daniel & Daniel Publishers, 2015

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The beautiful, mysterious Emily De Soto returns to Key West, where, as a child, she visited her grandparents. She's an adult now, married to a Cuban political philosopher she hasn't seen in 14 years. That's why she's in Key West: to help smuggle her husband, Raul, into the United States. But while she's waiting for Raul, Emily falls in love with an apolitical sailor named Harry. When Raul arrives, Emily must choose between the man who fought alongside Fidel and now wants out, and her stormy new lover with a fragile heart. Before the novel ends, one man will claim Emily's loyalty, and the other will die. As the plot thickens, so do the skies. The weather gets stormy, and the sea churns as dangerously as the hearts of the protagonists. In a classical counterpoint, a slut named Wanda wanders the streets of Key West, peddling pornographic poems themed to the action on the novel.

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From the Publisher:

KEY WEST—AN ISLAND IN THE STREAM OF LIFE AND DEATH

Key West is an island of many peoples—tourists, artists, writers, and celebrities, not to mention the locals, the “conches,” who stay there year-round, as if dog-paddling in the stream and waiting for something to change. And of course there are the Cubans, the people seeking refuge in Florida, who arrive one at a time or one small boatload at a time, always in the midst of night.

There’s something dangerously seductive about Key West, something that attracts people to its shores, to bask in the tropical heat, the spectacular sunsets, the boats, beaches and bars, and each other. There’s also something seductively dangerous: warm breezes can turn to storms, romance can turn to hearthache, and a boat ride can end in disaster.

This is the Key West found in Rosalind Brackenbury’s Seas Outside the Reef, a sensuous, lushly written novel of love and politics, sailors and tourists, locals and illegal Cubans, danger, sex, and death. It is the story of Emily (or Emilia) De Soto, originally from Cuba, who has come to Key West with a mission: to help smuggle in her Cuban husband, Raul, whom she hasn’t seen for fourteen years.

But Key West can be as unpredictable as the human heart, and before Raul arrives, Emily has time to fall in love with a local sailor, a man with a weak heart and a strong suit of private demons. When Raul shows up, Emily finds herself battered by emotional and political crosswinds. Before the novel ends, one of these men will claim her loyalty, and the other will die.

From the Inside Flap:

From the backcover:

Love, politics, weather, and death--welcome to Key West

The beautiful and mysterious Emily De Soto returns to Key West, where she used to visit her grandparents when she was a child. She's an adult now, and she's married to a Cuban political philosopher she hasn't seen in fourteen years. That's why she's in Key West: to help smuggle her husband, Raul, into the United States.

But while she's waiting for Raul, Emily falls in love with an apolitical sailor named Harry. When Raul arrives she must choose between the man who fought alongside Fidel and now wants out, and her stormy new lover with a fragile heart.

"In Seas Outside the Reef, Rosalind Brackenbury gives us sensuous romance, immigration intrigue, and authentic ship lore, all wrapped in the lushness of a Key West summer. Brackenbury's writing so lyrical and vivid that we live in the oily heat and feel the storms coming toward us as she explores love and loyalty in this wonderful novel." --Ann L. McLaughlin, author of Lightning in July

"Rosalind Brackenbury has a searching eye responsive to the sensuous quick of life and alert to the appetite for meaning and beauty in the human spirit.... As long as there are writers with Rosalind Brackenbury's visionary flair exploring its possibilities, the novel will continue to have important things to say." --Lindsay Clarke, Resurgence Magazine

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