Loni was 12 years old when her beloved father headed into the northern Florida marsh in his johnboat and did not return. At 36, she is working her dream job as a natural history artist at the Smithsonian, ignoring her past and her remaining family as hard as she can, until her younger brother calls to insist she come home to help care for their mother. The Marsh Queen, Virginia Hartman's fast-paced, compelling first novel, sees the prodigal daughter return to the swamps, the family she left behind, the mystery of her father's death and the possibility of a fresh start.
"Daddy wasn't just a visitor to the swamp, he was a part of the place." Loni's father, Boyd, was a Fish & Game officer, a fisherman, a devoted husband and father and a most unlikely suicide. Loni was his usual companion in the swamps, uninterested in fishing but a passionate and talented illustrator of the birds they watched together. As an adult, she's kept that passion, but grown distant from her brother and especially from her always-prickly mother, Ruth, now suffering from dementia.
Loni canoes the swamps, discovers family secrets, investigates her father's death, finds herself involved in fresh intrigues and dangers--and meets a handsome stranger. The Smithsonian, and leaving Florida behind, have always been central to Loni's life plan, but as she sinks back into the quirks of family and home, she may just find a new way. The Marsh Queen is unwavering in its lush, finely detailed, appreciative portrayal of a distinctive natural setting, and ends on a redemptive, even inspirational note. --Julia Kastner, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia