The Great Tide

"The Great Tide tells the story of a boomtown Gulf port, of plantation life on Florida's fabulous West Coast in the 1830s and '40s, and of a tempestuous, unforgettable woman, Miss Carolina Cohran. More vivid than life at the thriving city of St. Joseph, stronger than any among its dramatic characters, is Caline herself. Great lady in a setting of political intrigue, duels and brawls--schemer for possessions and luxury--victim of her restless emotions, Caline dominates the lives of three men: powerful, wealthy Douglass Blackwell, whom she married without loving; reckless, irresistible Studd Sevens, whom she loved without marrying; and handsome Anderson McQuaggue, who loved her, resented her, and loved her more deeply for that resentment. The Great Tide sweeps across ten adventurous, tragic years of Caline's life in the exciting, flamboyant, doomed city of St. Joseph, and later at the magnolia-scented Greenwood plantation. This first novel--huge, rich, vividly alive--tells Caline's story form her own point of view. It is as colorful and spirited as she was herself, and every page recreates, authentically, the Florida Gulf Coast and pioneer plantation life of a century ago."