Patricia Sprinkle

Updated May 13, 2017

People sometimes ask, "What are you writing now?" This page gives you a peek at what I’m working on while it’s in progress and also a glimpse into things I've been doing.

For several years I've been mulling over and writing, in bits and pieces, the first novel in a family saga set in Miami. This first book is narrated by Jo Abbot, who in March 1989 flew to Miami to meet her grandmother for the first time and spend ten days with her. Until that visit, Jo has been insulated from any extended family by a long-lived quarrel between her father and his mother. Neither of them will discuss that quarrel, but Jo's grandmother, Beck Abbot, is a strong-minded woman who believes Jo ought to know as much as possible about her forebearers, espectially her great-grandfather Averill Abbot, who was a Miami pioneer. The book alternates between Jo's experiences getting to know Beck, her crazy Uncle Rufus, and a terrifying neighbor, and Beck's stories of Averill's experiences in Miami between 1872 and 1890. If this book gets published, I hope to write another about Beck's own journey from Georgia to Miami to marry Averill's son, Tate, and then a third about what happens to Jo when she grows up.

Whether they get published or not, I'm having a great time working on them. .Few people know the fascinating history of Miami, the newest major city in the USA and one that has always been shaped by strong women. The research for this book has been a constant delight.