Novel Manuscripts
Welcome to a place where salty creeks curl through cordgrass, marsh hens laugh, and alligators wait around the bend. This is my home--coastal north Florida and south Georgia--and the setting for my fiction. ​Today, most people visit this region for the glitzy hotels that tower over the ocean, for the shops and attractions that have replaced live oaks and longleaf pines. Instead, tiptoe with me down the forgotten trails of history, where we'll find whispers of our foremothers--painful ones that hide in the shadows and brave ones that climb to the sun.
Below are the manuscripts for which I am currently seeking literary representation and publication.
Searching for Spartina
YA HistoricaL
78k words
For fans of Elizabeth Wein's Code Name Verity, Stacey Lee's The Downstairs Girl, and Bethany C. Morrow's So Many New Beginnings
Untitled image of two women, date unknown
from itoldya420
Sixteen-year-old Beulah and fifteen-year-old Rina are entwined tighter than a basket woven from marsh grass. Until Union ships surround their home on Cuyu Island, Georgia. This could be Beulah’s chance to escape enslavement by Rina’s family—to go north and study plants, building on the medicinal root knowledge passed down from her African ancestors. But the war drags slower than the muddy tide, and medicine and food dwindle, leaving both girls aching to help their families. Rina must provide for her younger siblings; it’s what her deceased parents would want. When Rina’s Confederate uncle starts running the Union blockade to bring supplies, she convinces Beulah to help her send light signals to his ship to verify safe waters, risking imprisonment by the Union.
Yet as the war’s tentacles grasp the girls tighter, Rina wonders whether she’s fighting for the right side. Maybe she should help Beulah escape, even if her family sends her packing. Meanwhile, Beulah feels torn between assisting Rina with her uncle’s ship and telling the Yankee sailors how to catch the blockade runner. The Yankees might help Beulah become free—if she’s brave enough to rip the ties binding her to Rina and her home.
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Searching for Spartina follows a battle for freedom, justice, and allyship, exploring racial issues that linger today.
down the creek at low tide
adult Historical
96k words
For fans of The Floating Girls by Lo Patrick and Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe​
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Based on the true story of the north end of Cumberland Island, Georgia
Fishing on Cumberland Island beach, circa 1900-1910
Image owned by author
In 1913, ten-year-old Lottie Belle Bailey is not going to fail her new role welcoming guests at her family’s hotel on Cuyu Island, Georgia. The wealthy city folk complain more than mosquitoes buzz, but Lottie Belle must help the hotel succeed. Her family hasn’t lived on Cuyu for one hundred years for them to give up now. Besides, Lottie Belle can’t imagine a life that doesn’t that flow through salt marshes and sand dunes. Yet when tragedy strikes, the Baileys must move to the mainland, and Lottie Belle begins a lifelong battle to keep her home on Cuyu.
By 1984, eighty-year-old Lottie Belle tries to stop her family’s island property from crumbling into disrepair, while splitting her time between Cuyu and a nearby mainland town. But Cuyu is turning into a national park. When the government seizes Lottie Belle's land through eminent domain, Lottie Belle sues the Park Service. Losing her oak trees would rip breath from her lungs, and she’s determined to preserve her home for her nieces and nephews. To prepare for court, though, Lottie Belle must rally support from family and other island residents—and confront painful childhood memories she’s locked away.
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Told in two timelines, Down the Creek at Low Tide follows a woman's fight for family, history, and home during the tangled development of a National Park.