Egrets to the Flames

Barbara Anton
Oceanview Publishing (2007)
ISBN 9781933515113
Reviewed by April Sullivan for Reader Views (10/07)


The large beautiful egrets dive and dip into the flames of the burning sugarcane fields of South Florida.  Some singe their wings.  Others blacken their white feathers.  Even a few die.  Yet, they are drawn to the flames and keep coming back for more.

“Egrets to the Flames” is the title of this novel and symbolizes the actions of the main characters in the story.  Set in the late-twentieth century in Belle Glade, Florida, sugarcane grower James Henry Hampton is facing some of the toughest challenges of his life.  The environmentalists and the union are pressuring him to ease up on some of his practices in the field and with his cutters, who are mostly Jamaican immigrant laborers.  At home, things are even worse. 

Although James Henry is the main character, we see life in the sugarcane business through the eyes of many.  Jazzman is a Jamaican cutter who wants to start a reggae band.  Grace is James Henry’s wife.  She worries constantly about her son Henny.  Henny is supposed to take over the family business, but is caught up in drugs and alcohol, and fighting with his father over wanting to marry his pregnant girlfriend Beth, a field hand’s daughter.  Of their other children, Jeff is married to a Jap, and Mel is marrying a prince that she does not love.  Then there is Vonda, Chip, and Steve.  A family mixed up with the Hampton’s in more ways than one. 

Author Barbara Anton’s writing invokes the feverish passion of a soap opera.  One desperate act leads to another in this family and the action never stops.  From confrontations about illegitimate children to drugs and alcohol and several deaths, the story always keeps you on your toes.  Most chapters end in catastrophe and foreshadow something even worse coming around the corner. 

I recommend “Egrets to the Flames” to those who like a fast-paced read with lots of drama.  Every twist and turn kept my interest as I followed the Hampton family through their saga.  With a happy ending for some, and a sad ending for others, the characters dip in and out of the flames in this exciting novel.

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