Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Review of Lowcountry Summer by Dorothea Benton Frank

The South Carolina Lowcountry is one of my favorite places. Dorothea Benton Frank, although now a resident of New York, was born and raised on Sullivan's Island in the Lowcountry and her book drips with the charm, hospitality, humor and gentility that is so characteristic of that part of the country.  "Lowcountry Summer" is 10th in a series of novels set in coastal South Carolina.

Caroline Wimbley Levine returned to the Tall Pines Plantation on the Edisto River after a divorce about 10 years before.  When her alcoholic ex-sister-in-law checks in to rehab in California Caroline is thrown into the role of quasi-mother figure to her brother's four problematic daughters.  She intervenes to straighten out everything from their vulgar language and poor diets to working on the girls' self-esteem and their attitude toward their father's fiance.  Tragedy and mishaps strike, but somehow the family bonds and individual sense of responsibility for each member of the family are heightened through it all. Caroline finds love in the end as well.

There are many vivid, beautiful descriptions of the land, the traditions and the people of this land.  At the same time, each person is presented as a complex, multi-dimensional individual.  By the end of the book it is easy to feel both frustration and empathy for many of them.  I felt that I had come to know this family as friends I plan to visit time and again.

Liz Nichols