Low Country (51 page)

own; and to Dr. Alex Sanders, president of the College

of Charleston, who once again gave me words, flesh

and blood for this book. He will know which ones.

My gratitude and admiration to the creators of two

wonderful books,* whose pages I have borrowed liber-

ally and literally.

And, as always, to Larry, Ginger, Heyward, and

Martha, the home team.

Anne Rivers Siddons

Atlanta, Georgia

May 1998

**“Ain’t You Got a Right to the Tree of Life?”—The People

of Johns Island, South Carolina—Their Faces, Their Words

and Their Songs, revised and expanded edition, recorded and

edited by Guy and Candie Caraway and published by Brown

Thrasher Books, University of Georgia Press, 1989; When

Roots Die—Endangered Traditions of the Sea Islands by Pa-

tricia Jones Jackson, published by the University of Georgia

Press, 1987.

PRAISE
FOR LOW

COUNTRY

“Absorbing…enjoyable…Ranks with the best

of Siddons’s novels.”

Orlando Sentinel

“Delicate, compelling, full of real feeling and

lush description. A treat.”

Kirkus Reviews

“Compelling…A book that surpasses her

more recent novels…Siddons is a pro at

capturing the humanity in her characters.”

Austin American-Statesman

“Lush, lyrical.”

Boston Globe

“Matches in quality almost any title in the

Siddons canon…Siddons’s followers have

come to expect her locals to be painted in a

full palette of local color, and the stroke of

her brush is as pleasing here as in any of her

other works.”

The State (Columbia, SC)

“An Anne Rivers Siddons novel is as

seductive as one of those upscale

home-design magazines…The descriptions

of the island, sea and sky are near perfect.”

The (New York) Daily News

“Siddons, as always, is a terrific storyteller

who knows how to hook readers…She’s

managed to build a loyal following and stay

on bestseller lists by creating engaging

heroines…who deal with life crises in a

realistic, believable manner.”

Virginia-Pilot

“A special story…wonderful.”

Denver Post

About the Author

ANNE RIVERS SIDDONS’s bestselling novels include

Nora, Nora; Low Country; Up Island; Fault Lines;

Downtown; Hill Towns; Colony; Outer Banks; King’s

Oak; Peachtree Road; Homeplace; Fox’s Earth; The

House Next Door;
and
Heartbreak Hotel
. She is also

the author of a work of nonfiction,
John Chancellor

Makes Me Cry.
She lives in Charleston, South Carolina.

Don’t miss the next book by your favorite author. Sign

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Books by

Anne Rivers Siddons

KING’S OAK

OUTER BANKS

COLONY

HEARTBREAK HOTEL

HILL TOWNS

JOHN CHANCELLOR MAKES ME CRY

THE HOUSE NEXT DOOR

DOWNTOWN

HOMEPLACE

FAULT LINES

FOX’S EARTH

UP ISLAND

PEACHTREE ROAD

LOW COUNTRY

NORA, NORA

And in Hardcover

ISLANDS

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and

incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used

fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to

actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is

entirely coincidental.

LOW COUNTRY. Copyright © 1998 by Anne Rivers Siddons. All

rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright

Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted

the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text

of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced,

transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored

in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system,

in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical,

now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written

permission of PerfectBound™.

PerfectBound™ and the PerfectBound™ logo are trademarks of

HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader November 2005

ISBN 0-06-113287-X

10 9 8

About the Publisher

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http://www.perfectbound.com

• Cover Image
  
• Title Page
  
• Dedication Page
  
• Epigraph Page
  
• Contents
  
  • Chapter One
    
  • Chapter Two
    
  • Chapter Three
    
  • Chapter Four
    
  • Chapter Five
    
  • Chapter Six
    
  • Chapter Seven
    
  • Chapter Eight
    
  • Chapter Nine
    
  • Chapter Ten
    
  • Chapter Eleven
    
  • Chapter Twelve
    
  • Chapter Thirteen
    
  • Chapter Fourteen
    
  • Author�s Note
    
  • Praise for Low Country
    
  • About the Author
    
  • Books by Anne Rivers Siddons
    
  • Copyright Notice
    
  • About the Perfectbound