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"Uplifting story with a down-home feeling."
Reviewed by Anne Barringer
Posted August 11, 2004
Life turns upside down every so often and throws you into
situations of which you never dream. Linda Breland finds
herself in just such a situation when her husband decides
to leave her for another woman. Suddenly the house and
summertime in Montclair, New Jersey, do not seem like home. Read more...
"Great character study"
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted August 11, 2004
Linda Breland flees New Jersey to come home to the
Carolina Low Country because she worries about her two
teen daughters and a cash shortage that would improve with
a lower cost of living. It does not hurt her to also
leave behind her former spouse Fred who she Read more...
SummaryPat Conroy has call her books "hilarious and wise,"
noting that they are "funny, sexy, and usually damp with
seawater." Anne Rivers Siddons said of Sullivan's
Island that it "roars with life." Now Dorothea Benton
Frank takes us back to the Lowcountry to introduce a whole
new cast of characters whose lives will surely move your
heart.
Linda Breland has no experience managing a restaurant,
but then neither did Brad Jackson, and he owns the place.
Meet Linda Breland, single parent of two teenage daughters.
The oldest, Lindsey, who always held her younger sister in
check, is leaving for college. And Gracie, her Tasmanian
devil, is giving her nightmares. Linda's personal life?
Well, between the married men, the cold New Jersey winters,
her pinched wallet, and her ex-husband, who's married a
beautiful, successful woman ten years younger than she
is—let's just say, Linda has seen enough to fill a
thousand pages.
As the story opens, she is barreling down Interstate 95,
bound for Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, the land of her
ancestors. Welcomed by the generous heart of her
advice-dispensing sister, Mimi, Linda and her daughters
slowly begin to find their way and discover a sweeter rhythm
of life.
And then there's Brad Jackson, a former investment banker
from Atlanta, Georgia, who hires her to run his restaurant
on Shem Creek. Like everyone else, Brad's got a story of
his own—namely an almost ex-wife, Loretta, who is the
kind of gal who gives women a bad name.
The real protagonist of this story is the Lowcountry itself.
The magical waters of Shem Creek, the abundant wildlife,
and the astounding power of nature give this tiny corner of
the planet its infallible reputation as a place for
introspection, contemplation, and healing.
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