Walker's Island by K. J. Radebaugh

"But mostly he thought of Walker's Island, of its wealth of land and water and cattle, of all that he could be there, and all that he could become. Sometimes he even dreamed about it, and woke smiling and content, only to see the sun rising over the field behind the Winters' house. At those moments, he would think he was dying of homesickness, consumed by a yearning for something he could not name, but that would not let him rest."
           -Raymond's musings from the novel

I probably would never have read this novel if it had not been recommended by one of the adult students in my class called Florida: A Land Remembered. Apparently the student thought there were interesting comparisons to be made between Walker's Island and Patrick D. Smith's A Land Remembered. And indeed there were. I will outline a few along with some differences I noted.

Although both novels begin in 1860's Florida, A Land Remembered spans over 100 years, while this one covers only about 33. Walker's Island involves a couple of generations of Pennells while A Land... features 3 generations of the Mac Ivey family. The early cattle industry is central to both stories and historical figure Jacob Summerlin, "the Cattle King," is mentioned several times.

Many challenges of being a Florida pioneer are described in detail---mosquitoes, stampedes, floods and post-Civil War raiders---in both novels. In Walker's Island the women do not go on the cattle drives as they sometimes do in A Land...  However, Walker's Island has more female characters and more sexual references, even a shotgun wedding. Both books feature a good bit of violence with Tate Rainey and gang as primary antagonists in ....Island.

I rated A Land Remembered a 5 but Walker's Island only a 3 for the following reasons. I really didn't like it at first and wasn't sure why but the writer's style grew on me. The editing was not the best since I came across several errors---the curse of a spelling/grammar geek. The characters were not as memorable or likeable. My followers know historical fiction is my favorite genre and Florida history is a passion. Therefore I am glad I read Walker's Island, even though it doesn't measure up to A Land Remembered. I would recommend it only to Florida history buffs like myself.