SHEM CREEK: A LOWCOUNTRY TALE by Dorothea Benton Frank
Dorothea Benton Frank writes about the lowcountry of South Carolina. She describes it so well that it becomes a central character in her stories. In her latest novel SHEM CREEK: A LOWCOUNTRY TALE the book is made distinct by the magnificent descriptions of the world that surrounds Mount Pleasant, South Carolina and the
specialty of the people who live there.
The central character in the book is Linda Breland. Married and the mother of two girls she has been living in New Jersey. Now her husband has left her for another woman and Linda wants to go home. Home to Mount Pleasant, South Carolina that is. She gathers up her girls, closes up her house, and she is homeward bound. She drives to the house where her sister Mimi lives and there she stays.
Lindsey, her oldest daughter, is the more settled of her two girls. She is ready to go off to college so she will not be in South Carolina long. Gracie, the youngest girl, does not want to stay in South Carolina. She wants to be back in New Jersey with her friends and her familiar places.
It doesn't take Linda long to find a job managing a floating restaurant on Shem Creek. The owner, Brad Jackson, is a charmer who is having some ex-problems of his own. He and Linda commiserate with each other over the ways of love and eventually find some sparks are still left in their own lives.
Dorothea Benton Frank creates beauty out of simplicity. Her stories are not complicated but are rather predictable. You have an idea of who is going to end up with who, but getting from point A to point B is done with heart, humor and depth. When you finish this book you feel you know these characters inside and out.
The first rule of writing is to write about something you know and Dotty Frank knows the lowcountry and she is willing to bring it to life in her books. Her love of this area is so palpable that you want to pack your bags and move there so that you can have true friendships, everlasting love, and eternal beauty surrounding you.
SHEM CREEK is a chance to visit this magical world. It is all waiting for you within the first pages and it never goes away throughout the entire story. The book is supposedly the story of Linda and Brad but every reader will find it is the misty, magic place called Mount Pleasant that is the star of the show.
SHEM CREEK: A LOWCOUNTRY TALE is published by the Berkley Publishing Group. It contains 366 pages and sells for $22.95.