FICTION

Cape May

Celadon. Apr. 2019. 256p. ISBN 9781250297150. $26.99; ebk. ISBN 9781250297167. F
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DEBUT In 1957, young and naïve newlywed couple Henry and Effie travel from their small Georgia town to Cape May, NJ, for their honeymoon at a relative's vacant seaside cottage. They don't expect the shore to be practically deserted by September and are about to leave early when they encounter a sophisticated trio who invite them to stay and join their ongoing party. Glamorous socialite Clara; her wealthy lover, Max; and his half-sister, Alma, draw the young couple, particularly Henry, into their heady world of anything goes, including breaking into empty houses for kicks. Fueled by large amounts of gin, they are soon plunging headlong into the sort of frenzied bacchanal that calls to mind California in the Sixties and Seventies more than 1950s New Jersey. But can these "babes in the woods," as Clara calls them, kick over the traces of their upbringing so abruptly without any repercussions?
VERDICT This erotic debut novel will draw in readers and stay with them. The author's perceptive exploration of innocence and experience, corruption and betrayal, makes for compelling reading. [See Prepub Alert, 10/15/18.]
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