Staff Picks
Celebrating Dorothea Benton Frank
- Sarah C.
- Tuesday, September 03, 2019
Collection
Dorothea Benton Frank, beloved author of Sullivan's Island and Isle of Palms, passed away on Monday, September 2 at the age of 67. Celebrate the life of this South Carolina author by re-reading your favorite titles or checking her out for the first time.
All the Single Ladies
Published in 2015
Dorothea Benton Frank once again takes us deep into the heart of the magical Lowcountry where three amazing middle aged women are bonded by another amazing woman's death. Through their shared loss they forge a deep friendship, asking critical questions. Who was their friend and what did her life mean? Are they living the lives they imagined for themselves? Will they ever be able to afford to retire? How will they maximize their happiness? Security? Health? And ultimately, their own legacies?
Folly Beach
Published in 2011
Returning to Folly Beach, her childhood home, newly widowed Cate Cooper, whose late husband's financial exploits have left her homeless and broke, discovers that it is possible to go home again and discover the person she was meant to become.
The Hurricane Sisters
Published in 2014
"Best friends since the first day of classes at The College of Charleston, Ashley Anne Waters and Mary Beth Smythe, now 23 years old, live in Ashley's parents' beach house rent-free. Ashley is a gallery assistant who aspires to become an artist. Mary Beth, a gifted cook from Tennessee, works for a caterer while searching for a good teaching job. Though they both know what they want out of life, their parents barely support their dreams and worry for their precarious finances. While they don't make much money, the girls do have a million-dollar view that comes with living in that fabulous house on Sullivans Island. Sipping wine on the porch and watching a blood-red sunset, Ashley and Mary Beth hit on a brilliant and lucrative idea. With a new coat of paint, the first floor would be a perfect place for soireés for paying guests. Knowing her parents would be horrified at the idea of common strangers trampling through their home, Ashley won't tell them. Besides, Clayton and Liz Waters have enough problems of their own. A successful investment banker, Clayton is too often found in his pied-à-terre in Manhattan--which Liz is sure he uses to have an affair. And when will Ashley and her brother, Ivy, a gay man with a very wealthy and very Asian life partner--ever grow up? Then there is Maisie, Liz's mother, the family matriarch who has just turned eighty, who never lets Liz forget that she's not her perfect dead sister, Juliet. For these Lowcountry women, an emotional hurricane is about to blow through their lives, wreaking havoc that will test them in unexpected ways, ultimately transforming the bonds they share" -- from publisher's web site.
Isle of Palms
A Lowcountry Tale
Published in 2003
Anna Lutz Abbott considers herself independent and happy -- until one steamy summer when her daughter returns from college a very different person, her wild and wonderful ex-husband shows up on her doorstep, and her flamboyant new best friend takes up with her daddy.
Plantation
A Lowcountry Tale
Published in 2001
Carolina Wimbley Levine had always sworn she'd never go home again, but when she must return to "see about Mother," she learns that Miss Lavinia, the Queen of Tall Pines Plantation, is filled with secrets and as maddeningly eccentric as ever.
Porch Lights
Published in 2012
When Jimmy McMullen, a fireman with the NYFD, is killed in the line of duty, his wife, Jackie, and ten-year-old son, Charlie, are devastated. Charlie idolized his dad, and now the outgoing, curious boy has become quiet and reserved. Trusting in the healing power of family, Jackie decides to return to her childhood home on Sullivans Island. Crossing the bridge from the mainland, Jackie and Charlie enter a world full of wonder and magic--lush green and chocolate grasslands and dazzling red, orange, and magenta evening skies; the heady pungency of Lowcountry Pluff mud and fresh seafood on the grill; bare toes snuggled in warm sand and palmetto fronds swaying in gentle ocean winds.
Return to Sullivans Island
Published in 2009
Newly graduated from college and an aspiring writer, Beth Hayes craves independence and has a world to conquer. But her notions of travel, graduate study, and writing the great American novel will have to be postponed--with her mother leaving to fulfill her own dreams in Paris and her Aunt Maggie, Uncle Grant, and stepfather Simon moving to California, Beth is elected by her elders to house-sit the Island Gamble. Buoyed by sentimental memories of growing up on this tiny sandbar that seems to be untouched by time, Beth vows to give herself over to the Lowcountry force and discover the wisdom it holds; to rest, rejuvenate, and then reenter the outside world. Then she meets Max Mitchell, and all her convictions and plans begin to unravel with lightning speed.--From publisher description.
All Summer Long
Published in 2016
This is a story of people whose lives are changing - a southern gentleman returning home to lead a more peaceful life and his talented New York wife who is not quite sure she is ready to make the transition. They are moving north to south, fast pace versus slow pace, downsizing. And while they are doing this, they are getting glimpses into other people's lives over the course of a summer, holidays that will amuse, shock and transform them.
The Last Original Wife
Published in 2014
The last original wife among her husband's group of cronies, Leslie Anne realizes her life is a sham and embraces the healing powers of South Carolina's white beaches where she reclaims the strong and sexy woman she was meant to be.
Queen Bee
A Novel
Published in 2019
""If I could only read one writer from now until the end of my life, it would be Dorothea Benton Frank."--Elin Hildebrand, the New York Times bestselling author of Summer of '69, The Perfect Couple, and The Identicals Immerse yourself in the enchanting world of New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank's Carolina Lowcountry in this evocative tale that returns at long last to her beloved Sullivan's Island. Beekeeper Holly McNee Kensen quietly lives in a world of her own on Sullivan's Island, tending her hives and working at the local island library. Holly calls her mother The Queen Bee because she's a demanding hulk of a woman. Her mother, a devoted hypochondriac, might be unaware that she's quite ill but that doesn't stop her from tormenting Holly. To escape the drama, Holly's sister Leslie married and moved away, wanting little to do with island life. Holly's escape is to submerge herself in the lives of the two young boys next door and their widowed father, Archie. Her world is upended when the more flamboyant Leslie returns and both sisters, polar opposites, fixate on what's happening in their neighbor's home. Is Archie really in love with that awful ice queen of a woman? If Archie marries her, what will become of his little boys? Restless Leslie is desperate for validation after her imploded marriage, squandering her favors on any and all takers. Their mother ups her game in an uproarious and theatrical downward spiral. Scandalized Holly is talking to her honey bees a mile a minute, as though they'll give her a solution to all the chaos. Maybe they will. Queen Bee is a classic Lowcountry Tale--warm, wise and hilarious, it roars with humanity and a dropperful of whodunit added for good measure by an unseen hand. In her twentieth novel, Dorothea Benton Frank brings us back to her beloved island with an unforgettable story where the Lowcountry magic of the natural world collides with the beat of the human heart"-- Provided by publisher.