New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank evokes a lush plantation in the heart of modern-day South Carolina--where family ties and hidden truths run as deep and dark as the mighty Edisto River.... Caroline Wimbley Levine always swore she'd never go home again. But now, at her brother's behest, she has returned to South Carolina to see about Mother--only to find that the years have not changed the Queen of Tall Pines Plantation. Miss Lavinia is as maddeningly eccentric as ever--and absolutely will not suffer the questionable advice of her children. This does not surprise Caroline. Nor does the fact that Tall Pines is still brimming with scandals and secrets, betrayals and lies. But she soon discovers that something is different this time around. It lies somewhere in the distance between her and her mother--and in her understanding of what it means to come home....
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In this warm and moving anthology, a group of bestselling authors and writers pay tribute to legendary, larger-than-life New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank and her literary legacy.Inspired by the title Dorothea Benton Frank planned for her next book--Reunion Beach--these close friends and colleagues channeled their creativity, admiration, and grief into stories and poems that celebrate this remarkable woman and her abiding love for the Lowcountry of her native South Carolina--a land of beauty, history, charm, and Gullah magic she so brilliantly brought to life in her acclaimed novels. From Elin Hilderbrand, #1 New York Times bestselling author, a sequel to Summer of '69.From Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author, comes a heartwarming, humorous interview from the hereafter with Pat Conroy and Dorothea Benton Frank, two beloved icons of Southern literature.From Patti Callahan, bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis and Surviving Savannah, comes The Bridemaids, a story about a trip to the South Carolina beach.From Mary Alice Monroe, New York Times bestselling author, Mother and Child Reunion, a heartwarming story set under the warm South Carolina sun.Reunion Beach also features letters, short stories, poems, and essays from: Mary Norris, New York Times bestselling author and staff writer for The New YorkerCassandra King Conroy, bestselling and award-winning author of Tell Me A StoryNathalie Dupree, James Beard Award-winning cookbook authorMarjory Wentworth, former Poet Laureate of South CarolinaGervais Hagerty, author of In Polite CompanyJacqueline Bouvier Lee, Peter Frank, Victoria Peluso, and William FrankInfused with Dorothea Benton Frank's remarkable spirit, Reunion Beach is a literary homage and beautiful keepsake that keeps this dearly missed writer's flame burning bright.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER In this warm and moving anthology, a group of bestselling authors and writers pay tribute to legendary, larger-than-life New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank and her literary legacy.Inspired by the title Dorothea Benton Frank planned for her next book--Reunion Beach--these close friends and colleagues channeled their creativity, admiration, and grief into stories and poems that celebrate this remarkable woman and her abiding love for the Lowcountry of her native South Carolina--a land of beauty, history, charm, and Gullah magic she so brilliantly brought to life in her acclaimed novels. From Elin Hilderbrand, #1 New York Times bestselling author, a sequel to Summer of '69.From Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author, comes a heartwarming, humorous interview from the hereafter with Pat Conroy and Dorothea Benton Frank, two beloved icons of Southern literature.From Patti Callahan, bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis and Surviving Savannah, comes The Bridemaids, a story about a trip to the South Carolina beach.From Mary Alice Monroe, New York Times bestselling author, Mother and Child Reunion, a heartwarming story set under the warm South Carolina sun.Reunion Beach also features letters, short stories, poems, and essays from: Mary Norris, New York Times bestselling author and staff writer for The New YorkerCassandra King Conroy, bestselling and award-winning author of Tell Me A StoryNathalie Dupree, James Beard Award-winning cookbook authorMarjory Wentworth, former Poet Laureate of South CarolinaGervais Hagerty, author of In Polite CompanyJacqueline Bouvier Lee, Peter Frank, Victoria Peluso, and William FrankInfused with Dorothea Benton Frank's remarkable spirit, Reunion Beach is a literary homage and beautiful keepsake that keeps this dearly missed writer's flame burning bright.
Dorothea Benton Frank writes highly addictive tales of life's conundrums with hilarity and heat. Meet Miriam Elizabeth Swanson, in a full-blown snit, buoyed by a fabulous cast that runs the gamut from insufferable to wonderful. First is the arrival of Liz Harper, Miriam's tenant from Birmingham, who sets a new cycle in motion. Her other tenant, Kevin, stalwart companion with more style than Cary Grant, shakes Miriam out of her fog to see which battles are worth the fight. Then there's Miriam's estranged son, who announces he's marrying a Jamaican woman. And what about her ex-husband, Charles, and that sordid lingerie model of his? Finally, you'll laugh and cry when Miriam meets a man named Harrison who changes her into a gal named Mellie. Miriam spins out from the revolving door of her postured life as a Manhattan quasi-socialite while she thirsts, no, starves for recognition. It takes a few spins, dips, and one spectacular fall until Miriam gets her head on straight. Then in a whoosh she's off to the enchanted and mysterious land of Sullivans Island, deep in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Told straight from the heart in Frank's vivid, highly entertaining style, The Land of Mango Sunsets just might be her finest work to date. If you decide to read this book, don't make plans to do anything else for a while.
A moving story of the power of love and the miracles of life--chock full of Southern wit, sass, and charm Grace is an intelligent, (struggling-to-be) independent 31-year-old single woman living (in sin ) with the man she'd marry if they both weren't so commitment phobic. Michael is a doctor and a scientist and Grace has a good idea that he's also an atheist. Over the years, this dutiful Catholic girl has become ambivalent about her faith. But her family is as devoutly old-fashioned as it gets. The stage is set for a major showdown that might just change Grace's outlook on life, family, and the South itself.
Theodora is the matriarch of a family that has grown into a bunch of truculent knuckleheads. While she's finally gotten them all together in South Carolina to celebrate, this Christmas looks nothing like the extravagant, homey holidays of her childhood.What happened to the days when Christmas meant tables groaning with home-cooked goodies, over-the-top decorations, and long chats in front of the fire with Pearl, her grandmother's beloved housekeeper and closest confidante?Luckily for Theodora, a special someone who heard her plea for help arrives, with pockets full of enough Gullah magic and common sense to make Theodora's Christmas the love-filled miracle it's meant to be.
Theodora is the matriarch of a family that has grown into a bunch of truculent knuckleheads. While she's finally gotten them all together in South Carolina to celebrate, this Christmas looks nothing like the extravagant, homey holidays of her childhood.What happened to the days when Christmas meant tables groaning with home-cooked goodies, over-the-top decorations, and long chats in front of the fire with Pearl, her grandmother's beloved housekeeper and closest confidante?Luckily for Theodora, a special someone who heard her plea for help arrives, with pockets full of enough Gullah magic and common sense to make Theodora's Christmas the love-filled miracle it's meant to be.
Her despicable husband left her for a lingerie model who's barely more than a teenager, and her kids are busy with their own lives. But before Miriam Elizabeth Swanson can work herself up into a true snit about it all, her newest tenant, Liz, arrives from Birmingham with plenty of troubles of her own. Then Miriam meets a man named Harrison, who makes her laugh, makes her cry, and makes her feel like a brand-new woman.It's almost too much for one Manhattan quasi-socialite to handle--so Miriam's escaping to the enchanted and mysterious land of Sullivans Island, deep in the low country of South Carolina, a place where she can finally get her head on straight--and perhaps figure out that pride is not what's going to keep her warm at night . . .
"Her books are funny, sexy, and usually damp with seawater."--Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides In Return to Sullivans Island, Dorothea Benton Frank revisits the enchanted landscape of South Carolina's Lowcountry made famous in her beloved New York Times bestseller Sullivans Island. Frank focuses on the next generation of Hamiltons and Hayes, earning high praise from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which writes, "Frank brings to vivid life the rich landscape and its unpretentious folks....A reader need only close her eyes for a moment to feel that thick-sticky heat, smell the wild salt marshes." If you enjoy getting lost in the works of Anne Rivers Siddons, Rebecca Wells, and Pat Conroy--novels brimming with atmosphere and strong Southern charm--you are going to love Dotty Frank's Return to Sullivans Island.
"Frank...writes with genuine adoration for and authority on the South Carolina Lowcountry from which she sprang.... Her] stuff is never escapist fluff--it's the real deal."--Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionReturn to Tall Pines in the long-awaited sequel to Dorothea Benton Frank's beloved bestseller Plantation. Lowcountry Summer is the story of the changing anatomy of a family after the loss of its matriarch, sparkling with the inimitable Dot Frank's warmth and humor. The much-beloved New York Times bestselling author follows the recent success of Return to Sullivans Island, Bulls Island, and Land of Mango Sunsets with a tale rich in atmosphere and unforgettable scenes of Southern life, once again placing her at the dais, alongside Anne Rivers Siddons, Sue Monk Kidd, Rebecca Wells, Pat Conroy, and other masters of contemporary Southern fiction.
"Her books are funny, sexy, and usually damp with seawater."--Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of TidesIn Return to Sullivans Island, Dorothea Benton Frank revisits the enchanted landscape of South Carolina's Lowcountry made famous in her beloved New York Times bestseller Sullivans Island. Frank focuses on the next generation of Hamiltons and Hayes, earning high praise from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which writes, "Frank brings to vivid life the rich landscape and its unpretentious folks....A reader need only close her eyes for a moment to feel that thick-sticky heat, smell the wild salt marshes." If you enjoy getting lost in the works of Anne Rivers Siddons, Rebecca Wells, and Pat Conroy--novels brimming with atmosphere and strong Southern charm--you are going to love Dotty Frank's Return to Sullivans Island.
"Frank...writes with genuine adoration for and authority on the South Carolina Lowcountry from which she sprang.... Her] stuff is never escapist fluff--it's the real deal."--Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionReturn to Tall Pines in the long-awaited sequel to Dorothea Benton Frank's beloved bestseller Plantation. Lowcountry Summer is the story of the changing anatomy of a family after the loss of its matriarch, sparkling with the inimitable Dot Frank's warmth and humor. The much-beloved New York Times bestselling author follows the recent success of Return to Sullivans Island, Bulls Island, and Land of Mango Sunsets with a tale rich in atmosphere and unforgettable scenes of Southern life, once again placing her at the dais, alongside Anne Rivers Siddons, Sue Monk Kidd, Rebecca Wells, Pat Conroy, and other masters of contemporary Southern fiction.
"Dottie Frank's books are sexy and hilarious. She has staked out the lowcountry of South Carolina as her personal literary property."--Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides and South of BroadThe incomparable Dorothea Benton Frank is back with her latest Lowcountry Novel, Folly Beach. As she has with Lowcountry Summer, Return to Sullivans Island, Land of Mango Sunsets, and so many other delightful literal excursions to this magical Southern locale, the perennial New York Times bestselling author enchants readers with a heart-warming tale of loss, acceptance, family, and love--as a woman returns to the past to find her future. Folly Beach is a constant delight from "a masterful storyteller" (Booklist) who has already secured her place alongside Anne Rivers Siddons, Sue Monk Kidd, Rebecca Wells, Barbara Delinsky and other contemporary queens of bestselling women's fiction.
"Dottie Frank's books are sexy and hilarious. She has staked out the lowcountry of South Carolina as her personal literary property." --Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of TidesBulls Island is a supremely satisfying tale of honor, chance, and star-crossed love, infused with Southern wit, grace, and charm, from the phenomenal New York Times bestseller Dorothea Benton Frank. The much beloved author of Plantation, Return to Sullivan's Island, Land of Mango Sunsets, and a host of other winning novels of the North Carolina lowcountry, Frank stands tall alongside Anne Rivers Siddons, Sue Monk Kidd, Rebecca Wells and the other masters of contemporary southern women's fiction. Devoted Dottie Frank fans and newcomers alike will adore this sun-drenched story of the uncomfortable homecoming of a former Bulls Islander who plans to transform the unspoiled paradise for profit...and her inevitable reencounter with the scion of a wealthy family whom she once was scheduled to marry until cruel innuendo destroyed their engagement.
"Frank...writes with genuine adoration for and authority on the South Carolina Lowcountry from which she sprang.... Her] stuff is never escapist fluff--it's the real deal."--Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionReturn to Tall Pines in the long-awaited sequel to Dorothea Benton Frank's beloved bestseller Plantation. Lowcountry Summer is the story of the changing anatomy of a family after the loss of its matriarch, sparkling with the inimitable Dot Frank's warmth and humor. The much-beloved New York Times bestselling author follows the recent success of Return to Sullivans Island, Bulls Island, and Land of Mango Sunsets with a tale rich in atmosphere and unforgettable scenes of Southern life, once again placing her at the dais, alongside Anne Rivers Siddons, Sue Monk Kidd, Rebecca Wells, Pat Conroy, and other masters of contemporary Southern fiction.
"Dottie Frank's books are sexy and hilarious. She has staked out the lowcountry of South Carolina as her personal literary property."--Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides and South of BroadThe incomparable Dorothea Benton Frank is back with her latest Lowcountry Novel, Folly Beach. As she has with Lowcountry Summer, Return to Sullivans Island, Land of Mango Sunsets, and so many other delightful literal excursions to this magical Southern locale, the perennial New York Times bestselling author enchants readers with a heart-warming tale of loss, acceptance, family, and love--as a woman returns to the past to find her future. Folly Beach is a constant delight from "a masterful storyteller" (Booklist) who has already secured her place alongside Anne Rivers Siddons, Sue Monk Kidd, Rebecca Wells, Barbara Delinsky and other contemporary queens of bestselling women's fiction.
New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank is back home in the Carolina lowcountry, spinning a tale that brims with the warmth, charm, heart, and humor that has become her trademark. Porch Lights is a stirring, emotionally rich multigenerational story--a poignant tale of life, love, and transformation--as a nurse, returning to Sullivans Island from the Afghanistan War, finds her life has been irrevocably altered by tragedy...and now must rediscover love and purpose with the help of her son and aging mother.An evocative visit to enchanting Sullivans Island with its unique pluff mud beaches, palmetto trees, and colorful local lore--a novel filled with unforgettable characters, and enlivened by tales of the notorious Blackbeard and his bloodthirsty pirate crew and eerie Edgar Allan Poe stories--Porch Lights stands tall among the very best works of not only Dottie Frank, but Anne Rivers Siddons, Rebecca Wells, Pat Conroy, and other masters of the modern Southern novel as well.
Experience the sultry Southern atmosphere of Atlanta and the magic of the Carolina Lowcountry in this funny and poignant tale of one audacious woman's quest to find the love she deserves, from New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank.Leslie Anne Greene Carter is The Last Original Wife among her husband Wesley's wildly successful Atlanta social set. His cronies have all traded in the mothers of their children they promised to love and cherish--'til death did them part--for tanned and toned young Barbie brides.If losing the social life and close friends she adored wasn't painful enough, a series of setbacks shake Les's world and push her to the edge. She's had enough of playing the good wife to a husband who thinks he's doing her a favor by keeping her around. She's not going to waste another minute on people she doesn't care to know. Now, she's going to take some time for herself--in the familiar comforts and stunning beauty of Charleston, her beloved hometown. In her brother's stately historic home, she's going to reclaim the carefree girl who spent lazy summers sharing steamy kisses with her first love on Sullivans Island. Along Charleston's live oak- and palmetto-lined cobblestone streets, under the Lowcountry's dazzling blue sky, Les will indulge herself with icy cocktails, warm laughter, divine temptation and bittersweet memories. Daring to listen to her inner voice, she will realize what she wants . . . and find the life of which she's always dreamed.Told in the alternating voices of Les and Wes, The Last Original Wife is classic Dorothea Benton Frank: an intoxicating tale of family, friendship, self-discovery, and love, that is as salty as a Lowcountry breeze and as invigorating as a dip in Carolina waters on a sizzling summer day.
