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Sullivan's Island (Lowcountry Tales, Bk 1)
Sullivan's Island - Lowcountry Tales, Bk 1
Author: Dorothea Benton Frank
Set in the steamy, stormy landscape of South Carolina, Sullivan's Island tells the unforgettable story of one woman's courageous journey toward truth. — Born and raised on idyllic Sullivan's Island, Susan Hayes navigated through her turbulent childhood with humor, spunk, and characteristic Southern sass. But years later, she is...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780425193945
ISBN-10: 0425193942
Publication Date: 1/6/2004
Pages: 464
Rating:
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 89

4.1 stars, based on 89 ratings
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

kimdep avatar reviewed Sullivan's Island (Lowcountry Tales, Bk 1) on + 39 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
I like the setting of the story. I am from SC and know first hand the magic and beauty of the low country, Charleston/Sullivan's Island area. The author is witty and talented but the characters are flat and dull. I just didn't ever care what happened to them. They seem unreal and the drama in their lives seems somewhat histrionic like they make a bigger deal out of stuff than it really is and that really bothers me. Pat Conroy's review says the book has the funniest sex scene he's ever read and I do agree with that! It is hilarious! but overall I am not a fan of the book.
Stacy1 avatar reviewed Sullivan's Island (Lowcountry Tales, Bk 1) on + 90 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Frank's debut novel is a story of redemption set in South Carolina's steamy low country. Susan Hamilton Hayes's comfortable Charleston existence is shattered when she finds her husband in bed with another woman. Faced with a failed marriage, a confused teenage daughter and a mediocre job, she sets about the business of healing. Slowly, supported by visits to her sister in their childhood home on sleepy Sullivan's Island, Susan becomes a successful newspaper columnist, regains her confidence as a woman (despite a hilariously deflating date) and finally explores the death of her complex, abusive father decades before. Chapters alternate between the present and 1963, the year her father died, as Susan faces both the strength and the damaging effects of her family legacy. The ending - complete with a perfect suitor reemerging from Susan's youth - is almost too picture perfect to ring true but both the setting and the characters are blazingly authentic. Frank evokes the eccentric Hamilton family and their feisty Gullah housekeeper with originality and conviction; Susan herself - smart, sarcastic, funny and endearingly flawed - makes a lively and memorable narrator. Thanks to these scrappily compelling portraits, this is a rich read.
RobbieM avatar reviewed Sullivan's Island (Lowcountry Tales, Bk 1) on + 71 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
This is a well-told story of a woman who grew up on Sullivan's Island, S.C. in the 60s, and who reviews her past in the course of coming to terms with her divorce from her unfaithful husband and with her relationship with her teenage daughter and her supportive (but almost perfect) sister. It is the first novel by Dorothea Benton Frank I have read, and I plan to read others. I especially like the humor, the sassiness, and the humanity.
NuttyNanny avatar reviewed Sullivan's Island (Lowcountry Tales, Bk 1) on + 17 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
Good reading. A great story.
reviewed Sullivan's Island (Lowcountry Tales, Bk 1) on + 175 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is a great book! It's about a disfunctional catholic family growing up in South Carolina in 1963 and their lives (2 sisters' in particular)today. Very Funny! Easy Read - couldn't put it down.
Read All 64 Book Reviews of "Sullivans Island Lowcountry Tales Bk 1"

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reviewed Sullivan's Island (Lowcountry Tales, Bk 1) on + 2 more book reviews
Fun read. Made me laugh. A good book about how our past affects our present and dealing with it. Love the sister interaction.
Tunerlady avatar reviewed Sullivan's Island (Lowcountry Tales, Bk 1) on + 581 more book reviews
An excellent story..took me awhile to get into it, but then the story picked up and really got interesting. It's a series of flashback to 1963 and then back to present day...very well done!
reviewed Sullivan's Island (Lowcountry Tales, Bk 1) on + 4 more book reviews
Great Summer Read!!
reviewed Sullivan's Island (Lowcountry Tales, Bk 1) on + 435 more book reviews
Great first book to the low country tales series
reviewed Sullivan's Island (Lowcountry Tales, Bk 1) on + 5 more book reviews
I realized after reading it I had read it several years before. Good, easy read. I love visiting Charleston, it was fun reading the references to familiar places I've visited as well.
reviewed Sullivan's Island (Lowcountry Tales, Bk 1) on + 72 more book reviews
This is the first Dorothea Frank novel I've read and enjoyed it a great deal. On reading summaries of her other books it sounds like she uses the same formula. Fun read nonetheless!


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