Sullivan's Island

In Dorothea Benton Frank's Sullivan's Island, the first installment in the Lowcountry Tales woman's fiction series, this debut will take you on an emotional roller coaster ride from the 1960s to 1999. It all started for Susan Hayes, when she discovered her husband was cheating on her with a younger woman. And that started the catalyst for a trip down Memory Lane for her, as she took her daughter Beth to Sullivan's Island, her hometown which brought up memories of her adolescent youth. As she prepares to deal with filing for divorce and becoming a single parent, she searches for the truth behind her father's deathm and how she survived a turbulent childhood with a racist grandfather and an abusive, uncaring father amongst other things. And it wasn't for their housekeeper Livvie who kept them in line and all in place. Through the Civil Rights Movement and how she had found her first love in the past, to becoming a stronger woman to deal with her ex-husband's battle with cancer, reuniting with her first love and finding a new niche and a job of her own. Between the past and the present, Susan had been through it all and perservered to become the woman she was today.

This was a beautifiul and endearing woman's fiction novel debut that's a tear-jerker and pull at your heart's strings. This is so emotional and powerful to talk about turbulent times in the 1960s and how things had changed over thirty years. The time trip to Memory Lane via flashbacks in alternating chapters showcased what the Hamiltons had been through and endured with vivid locations and realistic  Southern scenic settings. I cared for Susan and her siblings in the 1960s and what hell they have been through, as I cared for her now with an unfaithful husband, a learing boss, and going through the stages of single parenthood. I did find Beth a spitting image of Susan and her Aunt Maggie, while I didn't care for much for Aunt Carol or Big Hank. This novel would make you think and shake your head, praise God, and reflect on the changing times from then and now with non-stop drama, action, a hint of suspense and a dollop of romance.

Will you take a trip to Sullivan's Island today?