Florida Boy

The death of Florida cattle family patriarch July Rawlerson sets the stage for the end of an era in the award winning novel The Trouble with Panthers by William Culyer Hall. In the early twenty-first century, the family is forced to adapt from the past to an inevitable future. In this prequel set a century earlier, the Rawlerson family first settles in south-central Florida. Pioneer life is very difficult, but the family perseveres. Florida Boy stands alone as a gripping, independent story, but the birth of July Rawlerson links this novel to the author's previous work. Florida Boy is a hauntingly beautiful elegy for a wild land and the resolute people who sought to tame it. Powerfully evocative, it is a novel filled with sorrow, joy, love and loss, a story fraught with the unexpected and one whose characters are truly unforgettable.