{"id":6484,"date":"2014-10-12T16:06:55","date_gmt":"2014-10-12T16:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/?page_id=6484"},"modified":"2014-10-12T16:06:55","modified_gmt":"2014-10-12T16:06:55","slug":"no-name-key","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/?page_id=6484","title":{"rendered":"No Name Key"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00K6YM1Z2\">No Name Key<\/a> was released on May 7, 2014 and is my first novel. The print version is available on Amazon for $14.99 and the Kindle version for $4.99. Click on the image to go to Amazon. And thank you!<\/p>\n<div id=\"gr_add_to_books\">\n<div class=\"gr_custom_each_container_\"><a style=\"border: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/23203798-no-name-key\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/images\/atmb_add_book-70x25.png\" alt=\"No Name Key\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- the identifier in the following script tag can be a GR book id or an isbn --><br \/>\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/add_to_books_widget_frame\/23203798?atmb_widget%5Bbutton%5D=atmb_widget_1.png\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B00K6YM1Z2\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-6485\" src=\"https:\/\/argyle.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/NNK-good-cover-1.jpg\" alt=\"NNK good cover\" width=\"316\" height=\"506\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Praise for <em>No Name Key<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In this book you learn trees as well as mean men and hurricanes can kill you. Elle, the book&#8217;s protagonist, is as tough and amoral as the crabs that crawl and consume their way through Jessica Argyle&#8217;s narrative.\u00a0\u00a0As one particularly startling gustatory scene demonstrates, that&#8217;s not all she has in common with the crustaceans.\u00a0\u00a0One blustery night in France, I read No Name Key cover to cover, glad I&#8217;d locked the door and closed the shutters.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8211; TD Allman,<\/strong> author<br \/>\nFinding Florida: The True History of the Sunshine State<br \/>\nMiami: City of the Future<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">****<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Argyle&#8217;s No Name Key: local history for survivors <\/b>A REVIEW BY <strong>C.S. GILBERT<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Those of us who are survivors of myriad calamities have many forms and take many paths. Those of us who are men are often lionized, praised, cheered. Those of us who are women, however, can be smothered by the ancient stereotype that a woman needs to be protected, indeed saved by a man.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 No Name Key, the debut novel by Jessica Argyle, a year-round resident literary artist at The Studios of Key West, kicks that stereotype on its ass. This book is not for sissies. It looks frankly into the hardships of Keys history, especially the aftermath of the Great Hurricane of 1935.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 But beyond the historical, the book is a hymn to survival, particularly through the eyes of Elle Woodson, the main character, whose will to live is tested even before the hurricane, a Category Five monster recently deemed the most destructive hurricane in the history of the United States. Counterpoint to this monster is the much smaller monstrosity of Billy Woodman, Elle&#8217;s husband. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Written in clear, forthright prose, the plot is not for the faint of heart. But for the contemporary survivor, particularly women who survive abuse, Elle is a heroine to look up to, even if the view be divided equally between horror, awe and admiration. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is in the aftermath of the storm that the tension builds; No Name Key becomes peopled by spirits, benign and not, and returning visitors with muddy motives. The mix of Christian and pagan \u2013 or certainly homely superstition &#8212; is the defining spice of the dish; they come to serve as Elle&#8217;s primary motivation.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Argyle&#8217;s narrative is strong and sometimes lovely; doubting herself, Elle identifies with the cat that is \u201call swagger and little substance.\u201d With little dialogue, Elle&#8217;s story moves forward as a small, sturdy boat in a choppy sea, becoming more and more compelling as the journey continues. All in all: a good read and a memorable local history lesson.<\/p>\n<p>From <strong>KONK LIFE<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>****<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This is a terrific story, told with an attention to detail and an unswerving eye on just what it takes to kill a man and get away with it; as well as what it takes to grow tomatoes in the Keys and how to make poison from the tree that stands like the tree of Knowledge at the center of the island and the story.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t stop reading once I had started, as I followed Elle Woodman\u2019s struggles to survive as a woman alone on No Name Key at the time of the 1935 hurricane.\u00a0 She grows in the space of the narrative from a victimized wife to a subtle and powerful figure, and whatever she has done, we are with her all the way.\u00a0 The atmosphere of the time, the fragility of life in the outlying islands, the intensity of the action and above all the way that a murder goes on sending out its ripple effects long after the initial killing, haunting the murderer and poisoning the environment, reminded me most of all of Peter Matthiessen\u2019s \u201cthe Killing of Mr. Watson.\u201d\u00a0 A gripping first novel: I hope for more from this writer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8211; Rosalind Brackenbury<\/strong>, author of <em>Becoming George Sand<\/em>,\u00a0 <em>The House in Morocco,\u00a0 The Circus at the End of the World and other novels, short stories and poetry collections <\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>****<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><i>No Name Key<\/i> is the story of Elle, a woman for all seasons, a survivor against all odds.\u00a0 Set against the deluge of the great Labor Day hurricane of 1935 that killed hundreds in the Florida Keys, Elle wages her own personal battles against an abusive husband and the evil Mrs. Rowlands.\u00a0 Sometimes lyrical, sometimes grisly and always hypnotic, Argyle\u2019s tale is edge of your seat reading from start to finish.\u00a0 Beautifully crafted.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; <strong>Jonathan Woods<\/strong>, award-winning author of <em>Phone Call From Hel<\/em>l, <i>Bad Juju &amp; Other Tales of Madness <\/i>and<i> Mayhem<\/i> and <i>A Death in Mexico<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No Name Key was released on May 7, 2014 and is my first novel. The print version is available on Amazon for $14.99 and the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6484","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/argyle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}