Ninety Miles

In 1896 Key West, sixteen-year-old Frank Gilbert is already drawn to the hidden engines of the modern world—signal masts, steam pumps, harbor machinery, and the hard discipline of men who keep ships moving. But when his Navy family is transferred to a raw, fast-growing Miami, Frank finds himself caught between old loyalties, new ambitions, and a city being built almost as quickly as he is becoming a man.

As war with Spain gathers just ninety miles away, Frank is pulled toward the sea, toward service, and toward the questions that have always followed him: where does he belong, what kind of man will he become, and what does duty truly cost? At the same time, his bond with Lila O’Sullivan deepens into a love that must survive history, distance, and the brutal demands of a changing nation.

Set in Old Florida and the waters of the Caribbean, Ninety Miles is a sweeping historical novel of love, loss, identity, and the making of the modern world.