The Gulf

School. If you think there’s a specialty school for everything, you will not even blink when you head to Florida’s Gulf coast to the school at the center of Belle Boggs’ debut novel titled, The Gulf. Protagonist Marianne is a teacher and poet on the verge of losing her Brooklyn apartment to condo conversion. After her ex-fiancé and his brother offer her the chance to live in Florida as the director of a small school for Christian writers, she agrees. Since we’re in Florida, the characters are larger than life and there is a hurricane. Some funding for the school comes from a group that develops a variety of private for-profit schools aimed at the Christian market. There’s lots of wit on these pages, interesting characters, genuine empathy and understanding of our human foibles. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Gulf from amazon.com.