Return to Sullivans Island

May 11, 2009
Frank (Sullivan's Island
) creates a world in which aspiring writer Beth Hayes, whose chirpy internal monologues and quiet uncertainties make her easily endearing, is as much a character as the house she lives in. After graduating from college in Boston, Beth returns to the South to spend a year house-sitting her family's home, Island Gamble, while her mother, Susan, visits Paris. Frank's portrayal of a large and complicated family is humorous and precise: there's Susan, adoring and kind; Aunt Maggie, a stickler for manners; twin aunts Sophie and Allison, who run an exercise-and-vitamin empire; and uncles Timmy and Henry, the latter of whom has ties to Beth's trust fund. Frank's lovable characters occasionally stymie her pace; there's almost no room left for Beth's friends or her love affairs with sleazy Max Mitchell and cherubic Woody Morrison, though these become important later on. Frank is frequently funny, and she weaves in a dark undercurrent that incites some surprising late-book developments. Tight storytelling, winsomely oddball characters and touches of Southern magic make this a winner.

June 1, 2009
Asked to defer her graduate studies at the Iowa Writers Workshop to tend her familys ancestral home on Sullivans Island, Beth Hayes bristles at the idea of putting her life on hold. But she is not her mothers daughter for nothing, and knows its useless to protest. In the South Carolina Low Country, family is all, and with her mother off on a dream job in Paris, Beth holds down the memory-laden fort with trepidation that quickly turns to confidence when she lands a job as a freelance reporter for the local paper. Her first assignment brings her face-to-face with charismatic builder Max Mitchell, a seductive raconteur whose real-estate development is in need of a financial bailout. Thinking with her heart instead of her head, Beth invests in his project, and learns several hard lessons in the bargain. Featuring her trademark down-home southern wisdom and wit, Franks long-awaited sequel to Sullivans Island (2004), her captivating debut best-seller, is sure to please devoted fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)