An Editorial Collection
The World of
The Grove
The places, histories, and stories that shaped a novel. Long-form writing about Old Florida, orange grove culture, carnival history, and the making of a book.
The Florida That Was
Central Florida before everything changed
Before the highways and theme parks arrived, Central Florida was a world of red clay roads, citrus farms, and communities so isolated they seemed to exist outside of time.
Read Essay →Life in the Orange Groves
The citrus economy that built and broke families
At the height of Florida's citrus industry in the early 1960s, orange groves were more than farmland—they were identity, inheritance, and the measure of a family's place in the world.
Read Essay →When the Carnival Came to Town
The arrival of the outside world
In isolated rural communities, the arrival of a traveling carnival was not simply entertainment. It was the outside world pressing in—glamorous, dangerous, and briefly, completely transformative.
Read Essay →The Story Behind the Story
From a writing prompt to Viking
How The Grove began as a writing prompt at an all-women's group at the Key West Library, earned a major literary award, and found its way to a Viking imprint at Penguin Random House.
Read Essay →