Under a Dark Summer Sky

April 20, 2015
In her standout debut, Lafaye takes a historical event—the devastating hurricane that hit Islamorada, Fla., on Labor Day in 1935—and weaves it into a richly imagined tale that also makes a bold statement on race relations in the ’30s. Missy, a black nanny for a wealthy white couple’s son, is waiting for the man she loves to return to the fictional town Heron Key. The man, Henry, is a broken and despairing veteran of World War I who has never gotten over the horrors he saw overseas; now, during the Depression, he’s trying to eke out a living in President Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration program under a sadistic supervisor’s eye. After a white woman is brutally attacked following a segregated beach barbecue, all eyes turn in accusation to Henry, who is black. As the small town’s uproar grows, few realize that the devastating hurricane headed their way will test their ability to survive. Lafaye’s blistering commentary on race, as well as her vivid descriptions, will stay with the reader.

April 15, 2015
It's 1935. As a monstrous hurricane bears down on the Florida Keys, black and white residents and a group of World War I veterans building a bridge must face not only the truth of nature's cruelty, but also of man's. In Lafaye's debut novel, she explores Depression-era Florida, following the relationships among Missy, a self-educated African-American nanny; Nelson and Hilda Kincaid, the richest, and most unhappy, white couple in town; Henry, a veteran who has just returned home to work after 18 years away; Dwayne, the town sheriff; and Selma, Henry's sister [10], who has the power to invoke supernatural forces. During the annual town barbecue, tension between black and white residents boils over, and Hilda is beaten nearly to death. Soon the hurricane comes to wipe the slate clean. Lafaye's novel is based on true circumstances, a fact she drives home in an opening historical note. This matters less than she thinks, because the novel is rooted in human relationships, with the hurricane serving more as symbol than climax to the plot. The characters are flawed and interesting, and the descriptions of place and culture are colorful. But somehow the novel fails to achieve any great depth or pathos until the very end, when Lafaye enumerates the lives lost during the storm. This is only a problem because it seems that Lafaye wants this to be more, a story of our nation's racism and the scars it left behind. But the true focus is on individuals and their struggles; the book fails to transcend and become universal commentary. Character-driven drama that, while it doesn't offer any new insights into our country's racist past, explores a unique setting.

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March 15, 2015

It's 1935, and the town of Heron Key, FL, simmers in ill-fated relationships and prejudice. Missy has been working for the Kincaids and living with her Mama for as long as she can remember. When Henry, who left to fight in the war 17 years earlier, finally returns home, Missy begins to hope for something more in life. But, on the night of the annual Fourth of July barbecue, a white woman is found beaten nearly to death. Henry is suspected of the crime. And the town, preoccupied with its troubles, sits at the cusp of the most forceful hurricane America has ever seen. Before the storm is over, it takes casualties at random, but it also pushes the people in Heron Key to reveal their true selves, both the evil and the heroic. VERDICT Lafaye's debut novel succeeds on the merits of its well-drawn characters, its sense of place, and on the tragic events it details. The author keeps the reader at a distance from the characters, but this serves a greater purpose: a focus on the big picture of a town struggling under the weight of the past. Readers of historical fiction will find this book rewarding.--Shannon Greene, Greenville Technical Coll. Lib., SC

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