Cheese Turtles in Paradise

Turtle was a very different kind of book for me.  It was a Kindle check-out and also on a list of historical fiction that I made for a work project.  This one, set in 1935 is the story of a young girl, Turtle, who is sent by her mom to live with her sister and sister's family in the Florida Keys.  Her mom is a housekeeper to rich folks and her boss doesn't like children.  Turtle's mom is sure that the difficulties will be over soon, though because she has found THE man of her dreams, a salesman who promises to marry her and provide a good life for her and Turtle.  The story is about love and healing and forgiveness, single motherhood, poverty, all kinds of things, without being preachy at all.  A lovely, short, beautiful story.  Turtle is a smart, tough cookie (nicknamed Turtle because of her hard shell) and she fits in with her gang of boy cousins, showing them that a girl can do the things that they can do, and sometimes better.  There's buried treasure, babies with diaper rash and laughter and tears.  Loved it.