“We may be small-town girls, but we dream big.”
Touching Grass in Seven Stories by Sarah Mankowski
magical realism, small-town fiction, women’s fiction, nature/environment
In this captivating collection of interconnected stories, Sarah Mankowski weaves together the lives of several young women navigating friendships, family dynamics, and the quirks of small-town life in Grapefruit Grove, Florida. People say that nothing interesting happens in their town. Truth is, peculiar events take place all the time.
The Stories
“Soulmates Ever After”Destiny Marsh has loved Ray Gifford for most of her life. When he comes to Grapefruit Grove to restore his grandmother’s 100-year-old farmhouse, she follows. Now she must uncover the secrets hidden within those old walls.
“Incident at the Waffle House”
Painfully shy Kevin Andrews just wants Morgan Merino to notice that he exists. When he drops off an UberEats delivery at the farm where Morgan has been hired to care for the animals, he discovers beings much stranger than goats and chickens.
“Florida Man”
After driving from Millinocket Maine to Grapefruit Grove for a job interview, Oliver Jackson is beyond exhausted. Then, after a string of mishaps, he earns a Florida Man headline: “Naked Florida Man Feeds Meth-Filled Rotisserie Chicken to 9-ft Gator.”
“Fight or Flight”
Anxiety and panic attacks keep Natalie Collins close to home, where she is building a career as an online gardening writer. Not long after agreeing to write an article for a well-known preppers’ website, she begins to experience strange glimpses into an apocalyptic version of her hometown.
“Phantom in the Wind”
Kim Phillips and her cousin Matt like to chase hurricanes. Kim does it in for scientific knowledge; Matt goes along for the thrill of adventure. But now Matt is receiving warnings from a woman-like phantom that first appeared in the eyewall of Hurricane Irma. He dares not ignore her messages.
“Cardboard Dollhouses”
The brilliant but awkward Antonia “Nia” Perez planned to study theoretical physics and mathematics at college. After her mom was killed two weeks before high school graduation, plans changed. Nia could not leave her grieving father. She has worked at his mobile home dealership ever since. Now her best friend is the only suspect in the murders of three exes. She needs to figure out what’s going on.
“Touching Grass”
After graduating from UF with a degree in Environmental Studies, Ella Everly has come home for Christmas. She finds her family in turmoil. Her uncle is selling the family’s land, some 4000 acres. Ella treasures the land, and knows that it must be saved from development. With help from the other young women we have met in the previous stories, she must find a way to protect this pristine Florida treasure.
magical realism, small-town fiction, women’s fiction, nature/environment
