Review of HOUSE ON THE FORGOTTEN COAST

The House on the Forgotten Coast

by Ruth Coe Chambers

Published September 19th, 2017 by She Writes Press

Paperback, 252

Like a monarch surveying her domain, the house has stood for over a hundred years in the fishing village of Apalachicola on Florida’s northwest coast. She has known life. She has known passionate love. She has known brutal death. But she has guarded her secrets well . . .

Then eighteen-year-old Elise Foster and her parents arrive from Atlanta in their silver Jaguar, bringing with them their own secrets and desires. Seeking friendship in their new community, they find instead that the townspeople resent their intrusion. But this intrusion on the house’s privacy also provides a pathway for the past and the present to merge—and for the truth behind an unsolved murder to finally be brought to light. As you strive to solve the mystery, you and the Fosters are forced to address two critical questions: What is real? What is delusion?

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As the book begins it moseys along at the same pace as the sleepy Florida coastal town, Apalachicola, where the story takes place. However, it picks up speed the deeper into the tale you get. The core focus is mainly on Elise and the unusual circumstances that are happening to her coupled with the long-ago death of Annelise, occurring in 1879, that the town would prefer left alone. I thought the plot to be unique yet also peculiar. Why? There are so many reasons. It is mysterious, bizarre, engrossing, contains young love, and as a reader by the end you will be plagued by what was truth or just hallucinations. I am still left scratching my head regarding Lawrence. Furthermore, the other characters' lives are gradually revealed, hence leaving me astonished at times.

If you enjoy reading fantasy, mystery or magical realism, I think you will really like this book. I myself found it worth the time I put into reading it. Therefore, I will definitely be reading it a second time since this is the type of book you will discover new details each time it’s read.

Ruth Coe Chambers takes pride in her Florida panhandle roots and her hometown of Port St. Joe has inspired much of her writing.

She is indebted to the creative writing classes at the University of South Florida where she found her “voice” and began writing literary fiction. Listed in the Who’s Who of American Women. She has recently republished one novel and published it’s sequel and has written two award-winning plays. She is currently working on the third novel in her Bay Harbor Trilogy. She has two daughters and lives with her husband and one very spoiled Cairn terrier in Neptune Beach, Florida.

Her two earlier novels include The Chinaberry Album and Heat Lightning