Return to Sullivans Island: A Novel (Lowcountry Tales)

by: Dorothea Benton Frank

Published by: Harper Collins

Review by Susan Palmer

Newly graduated Beth Hayes did not plan on spending her summer house-sitting for her mother and Aunt Maggie at “Island Gamble,” the Hamilton estate. She wanted to go to Iowa to further her degree, yet she agreed to stay a year on Sullivan’s Island so her mother could travel to Paris.

Beth had left Sullivan’s Island to attend Boston College. She loved the southern charm, yet felt that the island was too outdated and that the Hamiltons believed in too many old traditions. Gone were the days of genteel women and courteous gentleman, yet her aunts and uncles felt that way about the house and island. Her Aunt Maggie felt that only Beth, among all the children, was the most sensible one to take care of the house and not completely destroy it.

Beth must obtain a job in order to function and stay afloat, for her mother allows only $300 a month in her checking account. It would have been better if Beth could draw from her trust fund her father left her, but she cannot access that money until she is thirty–or without her mother’s permission. Beth gets two jobs, one writing for the “The Island News”, and the other working as a hostess at a restaurant.

As her summer strolls along, Beth meets what she considers the love of her life–Max Mitchell. Her first news piece with “The Island News” is the destruction of a islanders’ favorite place, to be replaced by a shopping center. Here she meets Max, the man of her dreams. Although Max is a little older than Beth, he is sinfully gorgeous and simply interested in her. Will Max sweep Beth off her feet or will he sweep her trust fund completely out from under her?

Dorothea Benton Frank writes the sequel to her first novel, Sullivan’s Island. Both books are related. Sullivan Island is about Susan Hamilton, and Return to Sullivan’s Island is about Susan’s daughter Beth, yet both are very different stories.

A great summer read, for who can pass up on being taken to the beach of Sullivan’s Island by an author who describes it so well?

Armchair Interviews agrees.

Author’s Web site: http://www.DotFrank.com