Elizabeth's Landing

Winner of four book awards—adult fiction and middle-grade/YA—Elizabeth’s Landing bridges risk and loss with hope and hearts in this compelling family and environmental saga.

Port Winston, Texas—home to sun, sand, and shopping. What’s not to like? Everything to fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Barker. Port Winston is a far cry from small-town Missouri where Elizabeth used to be somebody and family meant something a whole lot different. Taunted at school as the newbie camera geek, Elizabeth’s given up trying to fit in. Between Mom’s journalism assignment in Mexico, Dad’s fourteen-hour workdays on top of weekends minding Grandpa and his shrimp boat, Elizabeth’s once close-knit family life is in shreds.

And there’s Grandpa. Not just ornery, he’s got more judgments than the Old Testament. When he pronounces Elizabeth 10¢ shy of worthless and headed for trouble, she bolts for Wayward Landing beach—the county’s last wild haven. Her impulsive defense of an endangered, nesting sea turtle against a trio of bullies ignites new purpose, a challenging friendship, and troubles even Grandpa couldn’t predict.

Elizabeth’s fight to save the Landing for the turtles unearths a long-buried family tragedy and unexpected ties to the Landing’s powerful developer. When the Deepwater Horizon oil slick threatens the sea turtles’ Louisiana feeding grounds, Elizabeth’s plans for Port Winston’s turtles and the Landing hit overdrive. But others are primed and waiting to hit back.