Egrets to the Flames [Hardcover]

Barbara Anton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2007

A steamy saga of love, passion, and greed, Egrets to the Flames introduces the Hamptons, a wealthy, privileged family of sugar cane growers. Trouble in the fields: patriarch James Henry Hampton must struggle to maintain his holdings, as forces seek retribution for the egregious impact on the environment and the exploitation of Jamaican sugar cane cutters.As he juggles a wife and a mistress, James Henry's family unravels. He must fight to save son Henny from self-destruction and a disastrous marriage to a field hand's pregnant daughter. Son Jeffrey and his bride face immeasurable loss, while daughter Melisandra marries an impoverished prince intent on taking her riches at any cost. In the end, James Henry will face his toughest battle yet - a battle that may be his last.Will the very things that hold this family together ultimately tear them apart?A splendid story of the clash between old and new, and the struggle between holding on and letting go, Egrets to the Flames is a triumphant tale about ties, tradition, and temptation.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Veteran playwright Anton opens her impassioned debut saga with a flock of egrets inexplicably diving into South Florida sugar cane fires in the early 1980s. James Henry Hampton, the tough-talking but well-intentioned patriarch of the family sugar cane plantation Hampton House, near Belle Glade, feuds with the local environmentalists and cane cutters' union to keep his lucrative enterprise thriving. He struggles to hold together his dysfunctional family, most notably his cokehead son Henny, but takes time out to bed his best friend wife. James Henry's daughter, Melisandra, lives in high style and buys a trophy husband, while his long-suffering wife, Grace, endures it all. The earthy Berlinda is the Hamptons' black housekeeper who delivers timely aid and dispenses family advice. Vivid scenes of harvesting and processing the sugar cane and the hot subtropical setting earn solid marks for Anton, who died in May of this year, and her over-the-top melodrama rages like a field afire. (Nov.)
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About the Author

Barbara Anton has won hundreds of awards for short stories, articles, light verse, poetry and plays. Thirty six of Anton's plays have been produced in New York. Born in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, Barbara Anton lives in Sarasota, Florida.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Oceanview Publishing (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933515112
• ISBN-13: 978-1933515113
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #904,097 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book disappointed me, November 1, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Egrets to the Flames (Hardcover)

Reviewed by Beth Cummings

I had high hopes when I began reading Egrets to the Flames. The press release claimed it was a "riveting, beautifully-written novel of family tension and high drama." What a disappointment.

According to the book, sugar cane fields are burned before cutting to rid the plants of extraneous foliage prior to harvesting. Also, according to the book, egrets are drawn to the flames of the burning fields and swoop in and out amid the smoke and fire - somewhat like moths are drawn to a light on a dark night. This book should have had some of its excesses removed before heading to the publisher.

Barbara Anton died in May 2007 after a short illness. Perhaps she was not in the best health as she wrote this book. The characters - five members of the Hampton family plus spouses, household help, pets, friends, lovers and illegitimate offspring - are unfortunately shallow and two-dimensional. The story follows approximately one year, but the author tries to fill it with a lifetime of problems.

James Henry Hampton III loves his wife but cheats on her every chance he gets with his best friend's wife-and the friend is well aware of the situation. For a while the book follows the youngest son, Henny (presumably a nickname for James Henry IV), but once he is forced to give up his high-school sweetheart and turns to drinking and cocaine, he is basically ignored for the rest of the novel. Only occasionally does his mother worry about his whereabouts. Other characters file in and out of the book in the same wa, and it is really hard to care about any of them.

While I normally enjoy a good family saga, I am sorry to say that Egrets to the Flames did nothing for me. I wouldn't recommend spending time reading it.

Armchair Interviews says: Heed the reviewer's comments.

5.0 out of 5 stars Sugar Cane Saga!, November 12, 2007

By 

Viviane Crystal (New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Egrets to the Flames (Hardcover)

Egrets are frantic birds that seem to fly into disaster while nearby vultures wait for the looming feast borne of the deathly chaos. In this case, the egrets dive into the infamous fires of James Henry Hampton's sugar cane plantation in southern Florida.

James Henry has worked hard to develop his sugar cane, sometimes by straight, hard work and at other times through paying off Senators and lobbyists who keep voting for subsidies to keep his empire prosperous. He's a tough-talking, no-nonsense kind of guy who loves his wife and three children but always seems to say the wrong thing that provokes the most dysfunctional results.

There's Henny, the crack-addicted rebel son who wants to marry the daughter of a plantation field hand. Daughter Melisandra has divorced the love of her life and now wants to marry a Prince who has nefarious, gold-digging motives for agreeing to her proposal. Then there's Jeff who has married a Japanese woman and moved to Japan but comes home for Mel's wedding, bringing his wife who may or may not experience the most warm-welcoming reception.

Add to the melee conflicts among James Henry, union negotiators and the environmentalists trying to get the Hamptons to consider more than just themselves.

Adult children learn from their parents and the unbelievably whirling dervish plot in this novel spins the reader through a cycle of breathtaking events. Passion, rebellion and unexpected traumas transform this amazing family in ways you will be unable to predict but never forget!

Reviewed by Viviane Crystal on November 12, 2007

4.0 out of 5 stars I thought this book was exciting!, November 8, 2007

By 

Lou Samson (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Egrets to the Flames (Hardcover)

This novel, fiery title aside, scorches through a host of twists
and turns, seemingly bent on sending its characters through the
tortures of hell, which, once the sugar-cane fields start burning next
to the family mansion, don't seem that far away. A large cast of
characters, all dependent in some way on the "cane", are torn apart
(in one case, literally) and sometimes put back together, usually only
to self-destruct again in spectacular fashion. A searing indictment
of what money can do to a family.