Introduction

This dynamic tale revolves around a Tampa blue-blood family, the Westcotts, whose lives are intricately woven into the traditions and mythical lore of the town's evocative holiday, Gasparilla. The story begins on a summer's evening in 1972. While the band plays amid the sizzling heat at the Tampa Yacht Club, pirates from the Krewe of Gaspar and their ladies eagerly await the arrival of their newly crowned king, Daniel Westcott. But to their dismay, Daniel never shows up. By the wee hours of the next morning, the townspeople are scratching their heads as members of the Westcott family deliberate whether or not to call the police. As the saga unfolds, Daniel has disappeared without a trace.

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Excerpt

Chapter One: The Queen’s Party


To understand how the disappearance of Daniel Westcott bewildered the people of Tampa Bay, you would have to know that the city was much smaller then. More like a sleepy town, Tampa sprawled out and yawned along the edge of the Hillsborough River. In 1972, the largest shipping port on the Sun Coast had yet to attract a major cruise line or an NFL team. Some historians claimed the town’s slow growth and propensity to “keep to itself” could be traced back to the early 1930s and the failure of the Tampa Bay Hotel. Before that, beneath the hotel’s soaring minarets, cupolas, and horseshoe arches, the palatial palace on the river had attracted well-heeled families who escaped northern winters to play golf and shoot quail on the verdant grounds that surrounded the hotel. After sumptuous meals, they strolled along the rambling verandahs. Once the Great Depression hit, the hotel was abandoned, even ghostlike. Some people claimed the town turned inward then. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. Gasparilla and the society events surrounding it—the Queen’s Ball, the Coronation—shape Natalie’s decision-making as the matriarch of the Westcotts. She is driven to preserve the family’s name, and Daniel’s reputation as King. Discuss a few examples of how her choices have in some ways harmed her family? Does Natalie’s past inform her desire to fit into this society?

2. Becca has broken free of the constraints of Tampa society by fleeing the city and refusing to return to serve as a maiden in the Gasparilla court. Her boyfriend, Adam, mistakenly refers to the event as “Sarsparilla.” How firmly entrenched is Becca in the societal constructs of her childhood? What instances in the book support her connection to this society? Which moments reveal her struggle to distance herself from it?

3. The book takes place during a Florida summer, with its bright sun, afternoon rainstorms, scent of confederate jasmine, and oppressive humidity. These elements take their toll on the deteriorating Westcott mansion. How does the house reflect the Westcott family itself?

4. The early 1970s was a time of tumultuous changes in the United States. The Vietnam War, abortion rights for women—to name a few. How do these changes affect the world that encircles the Westcotts? In what ways has the Tampa high society of the book kept itself immune from these changes?
8. Rebecca Westcott was intent on saving the Westcott family name and keeping up appearances. What do you think compelled her to bring the diaries to Emmeline?

9. Morgan, Emmeline’s granddaughter, longs for the world in the diaries, one which she felt “belonged to her” and is lost. She is described in a ghost-like way with pale hair and skin. How does she serve as a connector between the past and the present?

10. Both Becca and Julia are strong women who have chosen different paths to assert themselves. How are they alike? In what ways are they different?

11. Daniel is the epitome of the Gasparilla Pirate King—gambling, drinking, carousing, and always coming out on top. How does his story of Quinn and the baby rattlers shed light on his mindset? Do you forgive him for his crimes?

More Reader's Guide Questions are available at http://www.susanwolfjohnson.com

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