Was it pure chance that he had run into her so soon? Philip had never believed in destiny, and his father had believed in nothing but his own genius. And yet…

Book blurb

From the moment recent Oxford graduate Philip takes the helm of a new marine life institute in Palm Beach, his presence revives old feuds and sparks rivalries among the wealthy resident snowbirds, many of whom have invested heavily in a biotech company soon to be exposed for insider trading. It quickly becomes clear that Philip’s quest for atonement on the behalf of his father will embroil many of the community’s most prominent members.

Interwoven with snippets of real-life drama from an insider-trading scandal, Where Snowbirds Play paints a compelling portrait of the lives of the privileged, and what happens when their world is turned upside down.

My thoughts

Whilst Philip is clearing out his father’s desk he find some letters which trigger a memory from years before and tell of his father’s infidelity with a young woman, a student of his father, who is pleading for help and which his father ignored.

Philip takes a position in Palm Beach, Florida not only for his career but because he has decided to seek out the woman who wrote the letters and her son – his father’s child, his half brother.

Hannah is married to a doctor, a cancer specialist, who offered Hannah a lifeline for her son Jesse – who has a congenital condition which affects his kidneys, eyesight and elsewhere – which she could not refuse. The treatment worked and Hannah’s husband and brother-in-law, a lawyer, went on to develop it into a drug which is being tested for imminent release.

We see how these characters relate to each other and other characters that have an interest in the ecological and oceanic environment in which Philip works and lives.

It has a slightly different take on the rich that fly south to Palm Beach, the snowbirds, to spend time living in properties along the beachfront. Yes, they are rich and they want to get richer, stay wealthy but they are also given a less harsh side as is reflected in the concern for family, their community, animals and the environment. It explores relationships between parent and child, brothers and how those relationships can become obsessive and ultimately harmful. What people do for their families, how something stupid done to protect threatens them more than they can imagine.

This is an evocative story that would easily translate to the small screen. It is also an emotional read as we learn about Hannah, Jesse, Sunny and the turtles who each in their own way have been damaged by uncaring human behaviour, loss or medical conditions. Philip’s ultimate rather shocking act belies his supposed love and exposes a man who is lost to his own obsession.

Where Snowbirds Play is an atmospheric and striking debut well worth reading.

BlogTour and Thanks

To Will at Renard Books for the invitation to join this wonderful BlogTour and for an ARC of Where Snowbirds Play by Gina Goldhammer for review purposes. All thoughts are my own.

Information

Published: Hay Press (an imprint of Renard Press) | 6th May | Paperback | 264pp | ISBN: 9781804471357

Buy: Renard Press if you can please buy from Renard Press who is an independent publisher. Also available in limited hardback edition

Otherwise you can find a copy at – Hive | Bookshop.org (affiliate link) | AmazonSmileUK | Your local bookshop | Your local library

Author: GINA GOLDHAMMER – Gina Goldhammer studied English and Creative Writing at Syracuse University, has a master’s degree in literature from Harvard, and after graduation worked briefly on Wall Street and at US News & World Report magazine. For the next twenty years, she was the personal editor of the former US Secretary of State, Henry A. Kissinger, and worked with him closely on all his books, speeches and news columns, including his 1994 seminal work, Diplomacy. Gina’s father was involved in geopolitics during the Cold War, attaining prominence in 1961 as the highest-ranking defector from a communist country – a story she is working into a novel. Gina is a Florida snowbird who spends time in London and Venice.