The True Sea

Set in the Florida Keys in the years from 1909 till 1925, "The True Sea" tells the story of a boy growing into manhood against the drama of the construction of the Overseas Railroad. Henry Flagler's railroad, which ultimately linked Key West to the rest of America, promised the people of the isolated Florida Keys prosperity and access to the world beyond its sun-drenched shores. It did change the Florida Keys forever, but not necessarily in ways promised or expected.

Here is a tale of the fascinating history of one of America's most spectacular and unique environments; of prohibition and rum-runners, of schooners and sailors and the islanders who depended upon them, of the plundering of the islands' natural resources, and of progress and growth, with its rich rewards as well as its heavy costs.

Frederick W. Belland was born in 1944 at the Naval Hospital in Miami Beach, Florida. He spent his youth in rural Miami and the Florida Keys. After a tour with the Marines in Vietnam, Belland received a degree in Design and Literature from Florida State University.

While writing his first novel, Fleshwound (Dove Paperback, New York), Belland worked with his brother Chris in renovating Old Town Key West.

Belland’s second novel, The True Sea (Holt Rinehart & Winston, New York) is based upon the construction of the overseas railroad from Miami to Key West.

Subsequent works include over a dozen short stories printed in such publications as Tropic Magazine (The Miami Herald), The Tampa Tribune Literary Supplement, The Caribbean Writer and Key West Review. Belland’s most recent story won first prize in the South Florida Writers’ Guild competition.

A compulsive traveler, Belland has settled at last under an extinct volcano in Nicaragua with his four cats.