THE HOUSE ON BISCAYNE BAY
The Gulf Harbour Book Club met on December 2 to discuss with Chanel Cleeton on Zoom her latest book The House on Biscayne Bay. There were 34 of us in attendance.
Fran Cleaver was very clever and lively in her bio review of Chanel. Here is a synopsis. Chanel Cleeton is The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Cuban Heiress, Our Last Days in Barcelona, The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba, The Last Train to Key West, When We Left Cuba, and Reese’s Book Club pick Next Year in Havana. She received a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Richmond, The American International University in London and a master’s degree in Global Politics from the London School of Economics & Political Science. Chanel also received her Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law. She loves to travel and has lived in the
Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. Chanel is very well educated as her family encouraged her to obtain this education. However, she found she had a passion for writing which she pursued. She has been a prolific writer.
Chanel was most entertaining in discussing how she develops her ideas and does the research to ensure her historical fiction books are authentic. You could visibly see her brain working as she answered our questions. She is a fascinating person.
In The House on Biscayne Bay her character development surpassed that of her other books. This was a romance, murder mystery, and historical fiction of the first people to populate Miami from the society pages of New York City. The book alternates between 1918 and 1941 with both female leads, Anna and Carmen, who were fish out of water. Her descriptions of the building settings transport you back in history. This was her first Gothic novel.
With the Great War finally behind them, thousands of civilians and business moguls alike flock to South Florida with their sights set on making a fortune. When wealthy industrialist Robert Barnes and his wife, Anna, build Marbrisa, a glamorous estate on Biscayne Bay, they become the toast of the newly burgeoning society. Anna and Robert appear to have it all, but in a town like Miami, appearances can be deceiving, and one scandal can change everything.
Years later following the tragic death of her parents in Havana, Carmen Acosta journeys to Marbrisa, the grand home of her estranged older sister, Carolina, and her husband, Asher Wyatt. On the surface, the gilded estate looks like paradise, but Carmen quickly learns that nothing at Marbrisa is as it seems. The house has a treacherous legacy, and Carmen’s own life is soon in jeopardy . . . unless she can unravel the secrets buried beneath the mansion’s facade and stop history from repeating itself. (Synopsis from Goodreads) Unless you are one of those
readers who reads the ending first, no one at Book Club guessed the ending.
Enjoy this book!
The Gulf Harbour Book Club meets on the first Monday of each month in the club’s boardroom. If you want to join the Book Club email [email protected]. Zoom is available for members during the off season. We have six more authors lined up for the 2024/25 season. We have the following authors on Zoom: January, Family, Family, Family; February, Becoming Madam Secretary; March is the sequel to Ravenscraig; April, The Stolen Queen and The End of Your Life Book Club. The famous authors are Laurie Frankel, Stephanie Dray, Sandi Altner, Fiona Davis, and Will Schwalbe. We will advise all of you when the sequel to Ravenscraig is ready to purchase. We were a beta reader and this book does not disappear.
