Fiction review: Return to Sullivans Island

FICTION

Sequels often seem the literary equivalent of dessert -- worth the wait as well as the reward for eating your veggies first. So fans will enjoy Dorothea Frank's "Return to Sullivans Island," which catches up with the next generation of Hamiltons and Hayeses as they share old heartaches and face new challenges.

Frank's novels celebrate life in South Carolina's Low Country -- the beguiling beaches, close family ties and a more leisurely way of life.

And her new novel does not disappoint, as she describes the year Beth Hayes spends taking care of Island Gamble, the family home on Sullivans Island, just outside Charleston.

Though Beth loves the island, she had planned to be somewhere else that year. But, fresh out of college, she is told by her mother, Susan, that she must take care of the family home while Susan is teaching in Paris. Beth can't help feeling resentful, especially as her mother doesn't appreciate that Beth is giving up a year of her life to be the "Dutiful Daughter."

The family home is reputed to be haunted, doors slam, there are strange thumps and images of the long dead appear in a mirror, all of which adds a delectable frisson to a coming-of-age story with a beach setting. Beth, alone in the house, dreams of being a novelist or the writer of a notable blog. But she also needs to work and finds a job hostessing as well as writing for a local newspaper.

Still mourning her father, who left her mother and died soon after, Beth is wary of relationships. But while researching a story, she meets and falls for handsome Max.

Max is the architect and the developer of a construction project on the island that Beth is writing about.

Smitten, she impulsively invests her trust fund in Max's project, but when the going gets tough, the family that can be tiresome can also help.

When Max disappears, the FBI come to question Beth and a favorite aunt is found dead in mysterious circumstances, Beth panics. But Uncle Henry is there to advise, as well as her cousin Mike, who introduces her to the personable Woody.

With the family there to help, her mother back and finally willing to talk about her own heartaches, Beth is ready to trust, love and move on, aware always of her love of family and place. This is a beach novel with a difference by an accomplished storyteller.

Judith Chettle is a Richmond-based book reviewer and writer.