The magnetic appeal of land, sea, and sky along the southern coast has drawn Elizabeth Spencer many times to this lush and semitropical setting. This collection brings together six of her stories set amid terrain lapped by the warm coastal currents. These stories all happen on the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico, from New Orleans to Florida. In each, a girl or young woman gives voice to the narrative, probing and groping for a secure place and identity.
The six stories included here are “On the Gulf,” “The Legacy,” “A Fugitive’s Wife,” “Mr. McMillan,” “Go South in the Winter,” and “Ship Island.” Each reveals the special allure of the Gulf Coast region through the author’s depiction of character and engagement with the complexities of plot. In these stories that illuminate the lives of sundry females—from insecure waifs to novice seductresses—Spencer investigates female psyche, a topic which lies at the core of much of her fiction.
Elizabeth Spencer (1921–2019) is author of nine novels, seven collections of short stories, a memoir, and a play. Her novella The Light in the Piazza (1960) was adapted for the screen in 1962 and transformed into a Broadway musical of the same name in 2005. She was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.
