Growing Up on Stilts

If Miami had a French Quarter, it would be Stiltsville, the colorful houses built one mile off the coast of Cape Florida. Safely off the grid, girls got naked, men got boozy during Prohibition, and everybody lost a lot of cash at illegal craps tables. But beyond the lewd and...

By Amanda McCorquodale

September 9, 2010

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If Miami had a French Quarter, it would be Stiltsville, the colorful houses built one mile off the coast of Cape Florida. Safely off the grid, girls got naked, men got boozy during Prohibition, and everybody lost a lot of cash at illegal craps tables. But beyond the lewd and lascivious behavior at the Quarterback and Bikini Clubs, Stiltsville was also home to 27 bungalows frequented by Grovites and Gablers. Writer Susanna Daniel spent plenty of weekends at her family’s stilt house, and she has set her debut novel in this neighborhood above Biscayne Bay. In Stiltsville, she crafts the story of Frances and Dennis, whose domestic bliss is rooted in their isolation offshore. This Thursday at Books & Books, hear Daniel, a graduate of Columbia and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, talk about her childhood on stilts.
Thu., Sept. 16, 8 p.m., 2010

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