Description

Miami was roaring in the 1920’s, not only with boat loads of bootleg whiskey and “snow birds” seeking warmer climes, but also relocated families like Eddie’s who had left generational homes to forge a new life among Miami’s up and comers. It was a city of temptation and excitement, of Prohibition and the beginnings of commercial flight. Eddie, the only child of preoccupied parents, a social-climbing mother and distant, reticent father, feels trapped under the thumb of nuns and priests in a strict Catholic school. Then, Manny Silver appears, and Eddie’s life changes forever. In the hulking, fastidious mobster he finds a surrogate father and mentor with a soft spot for the teenager. But, there are difficulties. Eddie is torn between his desire for the adult pleasures and freedom Manny offers and the straight path defined by the moral principles of Father Horka, his spiritual guide, who tries to watch over him. In this place and time where the ordinary, the infamous and the famous meet on a single stage, Eddie grows up. Set against the backdrop of the most beautiful and untamed places of the era, Eddie discovers the complexities of friendship, betrayal, guilt and loss.

Praise and Reviews

I agree with the first reviewer: Nickel is a must read. It offers a view of Miami that is long gone except for the pastel fronts of a few hotels in South Beach. Besides strong descriptions of life in the newly developing middle class of America, the author uses her descriptive talents to detail the vivid natural joys of South Florida that have long since been covered over or destroyed. I think, though, that another level exists in this first novel. The use of Dante's Inferno mixed with the strict life of a Catholic schoolboy gives this young teenager the level of torment needed to create a really good storyline. Each time Eddie sticks his toe into the pool of perdition, he considers yet another level of Dante's hell he is probably subject to. Ambition and money is overshadowed by good Catholic guilt, however, and Eddie must pay a price ultimately. The flashback style is neither disruptive nor overused but offers assurance that perhaps Eddie did not cross the river Charon after all. Overall, the novel creates a mood that pulls the reader back to a time that was not necessarily the good old days but certainly is well worth remembering.

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