Author Description

Set in Miami Beach, Florida in 1972, the novel follows the Posner family?two Holocaust survivors, Sophie and Jacob, and their son, Adam?doing everything they can to avoid one another in a city with an infinite supply of colorful diversions. In this year, Miami Beach was the site of both the Republican and Democratic political conventions, and saw the rise of the counterculture, the Cold War, and the desegregation of the old South. The novel is enriched by the presence of historical characters such as Jackie Gleason, Frank Sinatra, Muhammad Ali, I. B. Singer, Meyer Lansky and a comical crew of fading gangsters. There is even a sighting of Fidel Castro. For these two Holocaust survivors and their son, Miami Beach was to be their salvation. Where better to blend in, regain one's sanity, and live their lives? Instead what they discover is that Miami Beach is not a place of camouflage?all that sunshine highlighted the very things they wished to forget, and the abundant sun turned their lives into a Disney World of funhouse mirrors and chaotic rides, giving them a front row seat through a transformational year in American culture, politics and world history.