This is a fiction-meets-real-life post. I read Jocelyn Green’s Veiled in Smoke back in 2020 and loved the novel. One of its characters suffered from “soldier’s heart” – what we would call PTSD today. The author handled the situation with sensitivity and the book gave me the push I need to get professional counseling for my own PTSD. I’m still reaping the benefits of that counseling.
This novel also awakened my interest in Bertha Palmer, a side character in the novel, but a wealthy, widowed, businesswoman in real life. Her winter estate in Osprey, FL, sits about 45 minutes from my home and is now known as Historic Spanish Point. I’ve visited many times and I always love walking the grounds.
A year or more ago, I visited a Little Free Library and found the book, Suncoast Empire: Bertha Honore Palmer, Her Family, and the Rise of Sarasota by Frank A. Cassell. It sat in my TBR for months, but in December 2022, I finally cracked open its pages to find a fascinating read that illuminated my hometown's history.
And that's the story behind this book photo.
Read my review of Veiled in Smoke by Jocelyn Green.
Read my review of Suncoast Empire by Frank A. Cassell.
That's so interesting that you learned more about your hometown
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