"Florida Girls" by L. L. Kirchner
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Editorial Review
Beneath the glinting Florida sun, Florida Girls by LL Kirchner unfolds with a vivid immediacy, summoning the reader to a 1940s landscape that pulses with the vibrancy of a nation in flux. Through the sheen of Coca-Cola advertisements and the hum of Greyhound buses, Kirchner paints an America both hopeful and perilous—a canvas where dreams glimmer faintly, only to dissolve under the weight of cruel realities. Her characters, a chorus of women drawn together by circumstance and necessity, stand poised on the precipice of a shared illusion. They march in Kathleen’s travelling swimsuit troupe, each tethered to the venture by private griefs and fragile hopes.
Thelma, orphaned and unmoored, carries at 18 years a burden that belies her youth—a reflection of a world where fate so often robs women of agency. Kathleen, meanwhile, grapples with the precariousness of survival, her financial troubles a mirror to the social tensions of the era. Around them swirl others—Peggy, Hattie May, Millie—each a thread in a tapestry marked by resilience and yearning. Their camaraderie, forged amidst glittering façades and shadowed truths, is the heart of Kirchner’s tale: friendships as brittle as glass but lit with moments of genuine warmth.
Kirchner’s prose, precise and deliberate, balances the allure of superficial glamor against the grit of harsh realities. Florida emerges not merely as a setting but as a character in itself—seductive and sinister, its hidden dangers mirroring the fractured lives of the troupe. Letters and historical artifacts, scattered throughout, lend texture, though their inclusion may occasionally disrupt the narrative’s flow.
Here is a story of women navigating a world rigged against them, their triumphs and vulnerabilities woven into a tale as bittersweet as the era it evokes. A novel that lingers, like the soft, salt-heavy breeze of a distant coast.
L.L. Kirchner is an award-winning screenwriter and Pushcart-nominated author whose work explores feminist narratives drawing on her eclectic background as a religion editor, dating columnist, and bridal editor. Kirchner's superpower? Inhabiting various perspectives and pushing boundaries like a boss.
In 2024, Kirchner will unleash her highly anticipated trilogy, the Queenpin Chronicles, starting with her debut novel, FLORIDA GIRLS. Set in 1940s Florida, this multi-POV suspense story follows an unconventional heroine navigating the criminal underworld and fighting for independence in a male-dominated society. With vivid prose and richly drawn characters, Kirchner shines a light on the patriarchal and self-imposed boundaries women face while celebrating the strength of those who dare to break free.
Check out her blog and podcast, Ill-Behaved Women on Substack and wherever you listen to podcasts.
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