A story with a message that’s as earthen and pure as the sugar cane fields upon which this family works, slaves, loves and curses. Egrets is about lust, greed, family loyalties, changing times and the environment. Right and wrong butt heads as often as father and son, and each results in it’s own set of consequences, all of which add up to a hot read that will have you turning pages as frantically as the Egret bird flies into the burning fields.

James Henry Hampton, the patriarch, is a no non-sense, tough as nails man, like his father and grandfather before him. A dedicated husband and father to his three children, he’s not afraid of hard work, but has, on more than one occasion paid off a Senator or lobbyist to ensure his family’s way of life. The Hampton sugar cane dynasty is located in Belle Glade, deep in the heart of the Florida Everglades. From the outside James Henry appeared to be a family man, continuing the prosperous family business. However, times were changing, environmentalists and union negotiators were pushing for drastic changes to protect the environment and Henry was fighting that change with the same ferocity that had sustained the Hamptons for generations. But this wasn’t his only fight, he finds himself on the brink of family and financial disaster, juggling a wife and a mistress, his son Henny struggling with a host of demons and there’s dissension amid the workers.

Barbara Anton's Egrets to the Flamesis a novel filled with interesting characters that are embroiled in a host of high drama situations that evoke a wide range emotion from the reader. Greed, lust, betrayal and the line between right and wrong are played out in vivid, often heart-wrenching detail. A sweeping southern saga that will keep you riveted to your seat and turning pages! ( )