Daniel Cantrell, patriach of an old South Carolina clan moves his family from from the deep south, to the booming area of Brevard county, Florida. His driving ambition gains him the finest groves in the central area of the state. He marries three times, and sires ten children. The life of one son is followed, Hoyt.
Hoyt becomes the outcast son of a prostitute woman. He surrenders lost dreams to his oldest daughter Channa, who pursues them relentlessly to win back the family honor.
Traumatized by a lost love from which she never recovers, Channa picks up the figurative sword and fights on, in the name of her father.
Prologue
There remained an indelible image of a young girl on the threshold of adulthood, with long chestnut hair, locked in the arms of her fourth cousin, beneath a swaying palm. Channa had given her heart away for the first time, carrying the torch long and hard. She had outgrown her first love, but never truly recovered from it.
Now Austin Boyd was gone, laid to rest perhaps twenty-five yards from her grandfather. He went suddenly Christmas Eve of 89, reputedly a lonely, broken man.
Holiday time of that year had been especially depressing. Channa was restless, sleepless, unable to enjoy the food or shopping. Austin's image long stored in some remote corner of her mind lurked, pushing at her awareness, despite all her effors to subdue it. She had strong reunion fantasies that year. Was it telepathy? Was he trying to will her back? Channa would never know.
Yellow was his favorite color. She had brought along a large basket of mixed, yellow silk flowers. Before leaving, she would lay them across his granite marker.
Channa Cantrell Murphy continued her stroll through the old Lagrange cemetery, making a brief stop at selected headstones. Many were familiar, long a part of Brevard County history. Some markers were so old the inscriptions had faded, Kinard, Carlisle, Feagan, Wilmont, Price, Taylor, Sharpe.
Lagrange, the oldest cemetery in Florida, stood one worn gray marble monument to its' namesake Britton J. Mims, founder of Mims town, now simply known as Mims. The headstone had long survived the test of time, amongst the overhanging moss of a great oak.
In this archaic burial place, where markers are discolored with mold and moss and azaleas of varying shades of pink and red run wild over the graves, lie the remains of Mims first settlers.
Mims, this tiny community seldom visible on Florida maps, running approximately ten miles long, from the banks of the Indian River to the swampy edge of the Saint Johns. Mims had seen the Seminoles a great nation, had withstood a Spanish invasion, two World Wars, had known murder, sorrow, peace and romance. Yet she remained a traditional old southern town, looking out at the world from whitewashed front porches, with modest dignity along its avenue of moss laden oaks.
Excerpt
Epilogue
Channa peered closer into the clear almond shaped, blue eyes. They were Christine's. Then she knew. This was Austin's mother Naomi, now well into her eighties. Channa thought she was the prettiest old lady she had ever seen. And all that was left of the only two people she had ever loved completely.
"Hello." Channa said.
She was embarrassed. What else could she say? She turned to leave.
"Don't go Channa. Let's visit a spell."
"You know who I am?"
"Of course. You look so much like your grandmother."
"I was thinking the same thing about you."
"Austin was a special boy, wasn't he?"
"For sure."
Naomi, holding a vase of fresh cut yellow roses, leaned down, sat the flowers next to Channa's offering.
"There. The perfect gift from both of his girls."
The understanding was unspoken. Channa knew that Naomi knew, in that special way mothers always know.
Professional Reviews
Florida Today
By L.A. Davis
Carolyn Kingsley, a resident of Edgewater who grew up in Titusville, has writen a book called, 'The Citrus Baron.'
I've read an excerpt from the book and wanted to read more. It begins in the early 1900's and goes to the space age.
The book's main character is Hoyt Cantrell, one of ten children whose father has the finest groves in the central area of the state, said Kingsley, who is a feature writer for publications in Florida and South Carolina.
The book, published by Xlibris Corporation, follows the joys and tragedies of a couple of central Florida characters from different generations of the family, as they fall in and out of love, but always find happiness in their central Florida roots.
Linda Rainwater, author, The Second Milagro
The Citrus Baron chronicles the lives of a Florida family through several generations. Their trials, sins, hopes and loves are told in such a way that the reader feels an idenity with the people, as if they were kin. Kingsley intwines the characters like the threads of a blanket. The whole, when finished, gives warmth, a comfortable feeling that despite life's ups and downs, families prevail.
TCM Reviews, Dr. Tami Brady
For me, The Citrus Baron was one of those guilty pleasures. The book read like a soap opera and I quickly found myself immersed in the drama of the Cantrell clan. The story has a lot of characters, each with their own well developed story that relates to the main action. Normally, I have problems keeping individules straight when the storyline involves so many characters. However, that never seemed to be an issue with The Citrus Baron. I think that each persons story was so interesting in and of itself that I took in the information without any problems. I think that each situation also related extremely well back to Dan Cantrell. I could see how the actions and interactions rippled through each life and each generation.
Pick up this book and find a nice quiet spot, and get lost in the lives, loves and losses of the Cantrell family.
A wicked Cajun Fairy named Robes Pierre entered the impenetrable Magical doll land of Sha Bebe. Queen Faustina, the ruler of the doll land, thought she had destroyed him, but he's back! Will the doll land survive his evil ways?
