Legacy of the Tropics
About
A trilogy of stories that shatter the myths of stereotypical islands of paradise.
In Promises, during the late 1960s, the ketch, Mercy, sinks during a sea storm off Culebra near the Virgin Islands. Ciara Malloy assumes custody of her drowned fiancé’s son and learns a devastating secret about the boy that changes her life forever.
In Adrift, in the late 1990s, underwater photographer Lillian Avery gets caught in a rip current and swept out to sea off Kauai in Hawaii. In facing death, she finds a way to leave a message behind.
Years later, in Reunion, the two former neighbors from Puerto Rico reunite on Kauai. A hurricane wreaks island-wide havoc. Ciara is missing, presumed dead. Among the rubble, Lillian finds Ciara’s memoirs; a life history that threatens to expose tightly held secrets about the boy since the sinking of the Mercy.
Praise for this book
Intriguing and Intricate
This group of intertwined short stories traces the lives of two women from Puerto Rico to Hawaii.
The opening tales depict what must be the most traumatic and defining moments in each one’s life: a shipwreck and the subsequent death of Ciara Malloy’s fiancée; and Lillian Avery’s endless hours caught in a rip current, lost in the existential meanderings of a mind coming to grips with imminent death.
The two, who were casual neighbors in Puerto Rico, meet again in Kauai where they bond before facing a third trauma: a devastating hurricane
Deal is a skilled wordsmith equally adept at portraying hair-raising action, painting beautiful land-and seascapes, and constructing intricate characters with complex motivations, relationships, and human foibles.
A great read for anyone; but will appeal especially to students of realistic, in-depth studies of human nature.