When Susan McClurg’s parents accept a job transfer in 1957, Susan is plucked out of her familiar and routine existence in Orange, Texas and plunked down in always-hot oil-rich Maracaibo, Venezuela. While too tall, preteen Susan struggles to make new friends at her American school, she comes to grips with life in a country peppered with revolutions, strikes and mandatory curfews. When Pat, Susan’s older sister, flies to Maracaibo for her summer break from college, the naïve McClurg family takes trips to Colombia and Caracas.
In book two of “Maracaibo Oil Brat” Susan’s social life improves when a telephone is installed and a membership to the Creole Club is granted. She attends a week of summer camp in the Andes and learns that not all boys are cootie—infested morons.
Book three of “Maracaibo Oil Brat” finds Susan attending San Marcos Academy in Texas—boarding school for her high school years. Susan jets from the States to Maracaibo to spend summers and Christmases with her parents. Tropical Maracaibo nights provide a romantic backdrop for parties, dances and dating.