Friday, June 3, 2011

Folly Beach-Dorothea Benton Frank

Folly Beach
Dorothea Benton Frank
Morrow, Jun 14 2011, $25.99
ISBN: 9780061961274

On the surface Cate Cooper seems to be living the American dream. She lives in a luxurious house, drives expensive cars and wears designer clothing. Since her two adult children left the nest, she has time to ponder her situation in which she has no one except her sister to share her feelings of isolation with; not her husband or her alleged friends who are her spouse’s clients.

Cate wishes for a different life. That is until her desire comes true when her husband dies. She is stunned to lose the house, the car and her friends. She learns he cheated his clients and cheated on her with a second family. Despondent and angry she visits her Aunt Daisy on Folly Beach, South Carolina where she hopes to figure out what happened to Cate Cooper, but never expected to connect to a dead woman who came here for solace back in the 1920s and 1930s.

Mindful of Karen White’s On Folly Beach, which also rotates between two eras, but Dorothea Benton Frank’s visit to South Carolina has its own uniqueness to the plot. The two subplots focuses on the lead women decades apart seeking to find themselves on a barrier island at a pivotal moment in their respective lives. Readers will enjoy this solid character study as Cate muses about what happened to her and her dreams while the one woman play starring Dorothy within the story line makes for a whimsical visit to South Carolina.

Harriet Klausner

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