My second book — The Beautiful Rings of Saturn —dropped in late ’25. It is very different from my first book, which was squarely in the ‘coming of age’ lane, interlaced with many fictional elements. It was a book that had been rumbling around in me for a long time and which I was glad to finally turn into a reality.

This book, however, is entirely fictional, though vaguely inspired by one actual person and using certain features of South Florida as rough scaffolding for parts of the story. South Florida has always intrigued me — the unique landscape, unique history (often called the last part of the US to be settled), unique natural environment, the mingling of completely incompatible cultures from the beginning, all of which has always made it a region of extremes, in a way. Extreme personalities, extreme social and political currents, a boom-or-bust economy. While the book is not a history, it does sit in a particular setting, and that setting is South Florida in the first half of the 20th century.

The real story, though, involves people, and the surprising resilience of relationships between people — especially families. The book traces this theme through three primary characters – two kids and their uncle — through thick and thin, from a shocking event in 1961 till its final resonance nearly fifty years later. In addition to South Florida, we also make stops in Texas, San Francisco, South Carolina, and Maine. 

I began this book during a long flight from New York to South Africa in 2016. It went through a great many permutations, as I struggled to find the right structure and format for the ideas I was trying to present. At times, I set it aside in favor of other projects. I think it needed the rest — for when it came back alive, some two years ago, it had a completely different form and shape, which I stuck with till completion.

The deeper I have gotten into my late-life career writing novels, I have found I like to work with intelligent, realistic characters who are navigating their ways through challenging circumstances and struggling, with determination and good humor, to make the right decisions. I think that describes the core of this new book and I hope you will give it a look.