Pieces of Eight: a Tale of Old Key West

Pieces of Eight ~ a tale of old Key West

Key West in the 1850s was filled with uncertainty, mystery, and questionable opportunities. Not a good place for a young woman. Julia Miller thought otherwise when she left her home and family on Green Turtle Cay in the Bahamas. Love clouded her vision when she eloped, but raising two children, their fathers long-gone, and life in a homeless camp brought into sharper focus a harsher reality than she'd ever imagined. And yet, she couldn't return to Green Turtle Cay.

In this meticulously-researched and engagingly-narrated story, the author recreates this exciting tropical city while exploring the choices women make and the meaning of home.

From the author

I once lived in a house that was brought to Key West from the Bahamas in the 1800's. The thick heart pine walls were so hard they bent nails. At the kitchen doorway, old wood cupped beneath a new sill. I knew there was dust in the cracks that dated from the original owners. I put a pencil and paper in the attic in case there was a spirit presence with something to say. There wasn't, but I never lost the sense of the people who lived there before me.

Jane Newhagen is also the author of Sand Dollar ~ a tale of old Key West. She lives and writes in Key West, Florida.