“A moving story of half-recovered dreams and reconfigurations of pseudo-families.”
—S. Kirk Walsh, The New York Times Book Review
“Zuluaga’s prose is delicate and artful, creating inviting depths from which each reader can draw his or her own meaning.”
—Amber Peckham, Booklist
"Zuluaga’s absorbing, expertly written debut explores the intersection of dreams and reality in the bizarre wilderness of Florida’s wetlands...Zuluaga’s portrayal of what happens to dreams deferred is beautifully executed." —Publishers Weekly
"The great joy of reading this novel was to be steeped in place, its blackbirds and alligators, its grasslands and rivers, the storms which blew in with regularity, but also for its indelible cast of characters, misfits all, who I grew to love as they forged on with pioneer hope, sowed the grace of second chances, and displayed the generous care of family beyond blood. Claudia Zuluaga has written a powerful novel, rare in its elegance, and Fort Starlight introduces a wonderful new voice into the world of literature."
—Alan Heathcock, author of Volt
“Claudia Zuluaga knows the real Florida, that wild, un-Disneyfied place where people from all over have come to chase their dreams into tenuous subdivisions on lush and mucky land. In her stunning first novel, Zuluaga sets in motion a tense, multi-layered drama which plays out in the barely drained swamps, revealing a fragile and beautiful ecosystem of vivid, eccentric, and absolutely believable characters. Fort Starlight is a stunning explosion of a novel. I savored every word of it.”
—Elizabeth Stuckey-French, author of The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady
“Claudia Zuluaga has created a heady, humid world that feels part tropical fairy tale and part economic cautionary tale. In her gifted hands, Florida's natural world feels as riveting as the hopeful but hard-pressed characters who populate its tenuous landscape. Fort Starlight is both beautiful and strange, a mesmerizing and singular novel.”
—Michelle Wildgen, author of Bread and Butter and You're Not You
“Claudia Zuluaga has given us a heart-felt page turner out of a parched housing development in South Florida. Reminiscent of Alice Hoffman’s Turtle Moon, Zuluaga manages to hold onto the drama and suspense of her story and, at the same time, shared with us her big, generous heart. We care for her characters and their crazy midsummer’s night dream the way she cares for them. This makes it all the more difficult to believe that this is the work of a debut novelist and not that of an old hand. In other words she knows how to spin a yarn and it was a pleasure to be caught up for a time in her web.”
—Mary Morris, author of Revenge
“A moving story of half-recovered dreams and reconfigurations of pseudo-families.”
—S. Kirk Walsh, The New York Times Book Review
“Zuluaga’s prose is delicate and artful, creating inviting depths from which each reader can draw his or her own meaning.”
—Amber Peckham, Booklist
"Zuluaga’s absorbing, expertly written debut explores the intersection of dreams and reality in the bizarre wilderness of Florida’s wetlands...Zuluaga’s portrayal of what happens to dreams deferred is beautifully executed." —Publishers Weekly
"The great joy of reading this novel was to be steeped in place, its blackbirds and alligators, its grasslands and rivers, the storms which blew in with regularity, but also for its indelible cast of characters, misfits all, who I grew to love as they forged on with pioneer hope, sowed the grace of second chances, and displayed the generous care of family beyond blood. Claudia Zuluaga has written a powerful novel, rare in its elegance, and Fort Starlight introduces a wonderful new voice into the world of literature."
—Alan Heathcock, author of Volt
“Claudia Zuluaga knows the real Florida, that wild, un-Disneyfied place where people from all over have come to chase their dreams into tenuous subdivisions on lush and mucky land. In her stunning first novel, Zuluaga sets in motion a tense, multi-layered drama which plays out in the barely drained swamps, revealing a fragile and beautiful ecosystem of vivid, eccentric, and absolutely believable characters. Fort Starlight is a stunning explosion of a novel. I savored every word of it.”
—Elizabeth Stuckey-French, author of The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady
“Claudia Zuluaga has created a heady, humid world that feels part tropical fairy tale and part economic cautionary tale. In her gifted hands, Florida's natural world feels as riveting as the hopeful but hard-pressed characters who populate its tenuous landscape. Fort Starlight is both beautiful and strange, a mesmerizing and singular novel.”
—Michelle Wildgen, author of Bread and Butter and You're Not You
“Claudia Zuluaga has given us a heart-felt page turner out of a parched housing development in South Florida. Reminiscent of Alice Hoffman’s Turtle Moon, Zuluaga manages to hold onto the drama and suspense of her story and, at the same time, shared with us her big, generous heart. We care for her characters and their crazy midsummer’s night dream the way she cares for them. This makes it all the more difficult to believe that this is the work of a debut novelist and not that of an old hand. In other words she knows how to spin a yarn and it was a pleasure to be caught up for a time in her web.”
—Mary Morris, author of Revenge
