Read Sullivans Island-Lowcountry 1 Online

Authors: Dorothea Benton Frank

Tags: #Fiction, #Domestic Fiction, #General, #Sagas, #Women - South Carolina, #South Carolina, #Mothers and Daughters, #Women, #Sisters, #Sullivan's Island (S.C. : Island), #Sullivan's Island (S.C.: Island)

Sullivans Island-Lowcountry 1

BOOK: Sullivans Island-Lowcountry 1
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“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 por-

traits, this is a rich read.”

—Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“Dorothea Frank and I share the exact same literary territory. . . .

Sullivan’s Island
is hilarious and wise, an up-to-the minute report

on what it is like to be alive and female in the South Carolina

Lowcountry today. It contains the funniest sex scene I have ever

encountered.”

—Pat Conroy

“Dottie Frank’s take on the South Carolina Lowcountry is tough,

tender, achingly real, and very, very funny.
Sullivan’s Island
roars

with life.”

—Anne Rivers Siddons

“In
Sullivan’s Island
, southern womanhood has found a new voice,

and it is outrageous, hilarious, relentless and impossible to ignore.”

—John Berendt

“A satisfying treat. . . . Dorothea Benton Frank ventures into the

territory of another three-named writer, Anne Rivers Siddons.”

—Orlando Sentinel

“Frank’s wit, her fast pacing and the details of Lowcountry life and

place give the novel a solid grounding. . . . The book’s greatest

pleasure lies in the delightfully realized Susan, who has all the

pluck, charm and gutsy good humor anyone might wish for. . . .

Sullivan’s Island
is really a treat. It’s fun, fast reading. . . . a good

writer with a fictional creation who—as they say in the movie

biz—has legs.”

—The State
(Columbia, SC)

continued . . .

“One heck of a beach book. . . . Frank keeps you reading compul-

sively.”

—The Charlotte Observer

“Those who enjoy Pat Conroy or Anne Rivers Siddons will not be

disappointed.”

—Library Journal

“A novel with such authentic characters and setting that the reader

is reminded of the rich storytelling of Pat Conroy and Anne Rivers

Siddons. . . . Filled with Lowcountry and Gullah legend, this

delightful contemporary romance is a very moving story of family,

love and place.”

—Knoxville News-Sentinel

“A novel that should be on every ‘beach reading’ list this summer.”

—The Greenville News
(Greenville, SC)

“A guaranteed reading pleasure.”
—News Chief
(Winter Haven, FL)

“Rarely in contemporary fiction have we encountered a heroine

so real, so sympathetic, so at once courageous and outrageous. . . .

Sullivan’s Island
is the kind of novel readers are always asking for—

and, usually these days, can’t find.”

—Putnam County Courier
(Carmel, NY)

Praise for

Plantation

“Effortlessly evokes the lush beauty of the South Carolina Low-

country while exploring the complexities of family relationships . . .

Readers will enjoy immersing themselves in the lives of these deftly

drawn, heartfelt characters.”

—Publishers Weekly
(starred review)

“Filled with entertaining characters and lots of humor.”

—The State
(Columbia, SC)

“Think Terry McMillan meets Rebecca Wells by way of the Deep

South and you’ll be barking up the right bayou.”
—The Mirror
(UK)

Sullivan’s

A L o w c o u n t r y T a l e

sland

I

Dorothea Benton Frank

b

BERKLEY BOOKS, NEW YORK

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is

entirely coincidental.

b

A Berkley Book

Published by The Berkley Publishing Group

A division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

375 Hudson Street

New York, New York 10014

Copyright © 1999 by Dorothea Benton Frank

Cover design by Rita Frangie

Cover art by Jason Seder

Book design by Julie Rogers

All rights reserved.This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any

form without permission.The scanning, uploading, or distribution of this book

via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher

is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic

editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted

materials.Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. BERKLEY and the

“B” design are trademarks belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Frank, Dorothea Benton.

Sullivan’s Island : a Lowcountry tale / Dorothea Benton Frank.

—Berkley trade pbk. ed.

p. cm.

ISBN: 1-4295-2679-3

1. Sullivan’s Island (S.C. : Island)—Fiction. 2. Women—South

Carolina—Fiction. 3. Mothers and daughters—Fiction. 4. South

Carolina—Fiction. 5. Sisters—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3556.R3338S85 2004

813'.6—dc22

2003057846

For my dear friend and mentor, Mary Kuczkir.

And for Ella Wright, who was my Livvie.

Contents

Acknowledgments

xi

Prologue

1

1. The Porch

11

2. The Outhouse

32

3. The Lawyer

52

4. Beth

71

5. Livvie

88

6. First Dates

112

7. Hurricane Denise

138

8. Hurricane Maybelline

152

9. The Aftermath

177

10. Write Away

198

11. Tipa

217

12. Hank

240

13. Taking Control

265

14. Thanksgiving 1963

300

15. Thanksgiving 1999

315

16. Operating in the Christmas Theater

330

17. Christmas 1963

348

18. Simon

377

19. School

395

20. Lowcountry Magic

421

Epilogue

442

Author

s Note

446

Acknowledgments

would like to thank the following wonderful people

who helped me at every stage of developing this crazy

I tale of mine.

Special thanks to my McInerny cousins, Michael and Mary

Jo and Father Larry, who helped me remember so much and set

the tone with their hilarious stories of crabbing and being disci-

plined by the nuns of Stella Maris Grammar School. Also my

Blanchard cousins, Judy Linder and Laura. I love every smart

and funny bone in their bodies!

Speaking of the nuns, I’d like to acknowledge Sister Miriam,

my old principal at Stella Maris; Father Kelly, my principal at

Bishop England High School; and oh, Lord, Sister Rosaire, my

biology teacher; all of whom told me that my sassy mouth and

lack of personal discipline would bring me to no good someday.

If they hadn’t beaten the guilt into me, they would’ve been right.

But it was Stephen Spade, my tenth-grade English teacher, who

taught me to love the cadence of words. God bless them all.

xii

A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s

Robert and Susan Rosen deserve a huge acknowledgment

for all their legal and historic facts and research recommenda-

tions. Robert is only the funniest historian on the planet, who

has written many brilliant books on Charleston.And also to my

e-mail author buddy, Julie Dash. Julie, you were so much help

on Gullah history, you just don’t know. If you like the Gullah

flavor in this book and haven’t read
Daughters of the Dust
, go get

it! (Okay, Julie and Robert, now y’all owe me!) I’d also like to

thank author and historian Suzannah Smith Miles for answering

all my questions with such grace. And to Morris Dees, of the

Southern Poverty Law Center, many thanks for your help as

well.

Everyone should have friends like Dan and Corky Gaby. It

was their support and faith that led me to attempt this. Many

thanks, y’all. I’d also like to send kisses to the members of my

book group, especially Adrian Shelby, Ruth Perretti, Cherry

Provost and Jean Kidd, for living through the drama and push-

ing me forward.

Special thanks to Dr. John F. Noonan and poet Paul Genega

from Bloomfield College who put the official writer’s curse on

me and ruined my tennis game.

Many thanks to John McDermott of the Mount Pleasant

Knights of Columbus and Billy of Billy’s Back Home Restau-

rant. Also to my old friend Dr. George Durst, whose recollec-

tions inspired the fort scene.

To Gloria Steinem, Sean Byrne, Francesco Scavullo, Eric

Dominguez, Jim Vayias, Pamela Wallace, Lynn O’Hare, Meredith

Metz, Beth Grossbard, Clive and Ann Cummis and my L.A.

gurus, Marvin Meyer and Joel Gotler—sincere thanks for your

support. Alex Sanders, I believe you’re the kindest of all south-

ern gentlemen.

This book would be a rumor were it not for the regular

beatings, guidance and faith of the most wonderful editor on

earth—Gail Fortune—who helped me bring the story to life

and gave me this extraordinary opportunity to be a published

A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s

xiii

author.And rightfully, I bow in gratitude to Leslie Gelbman and

Liz Perl. It was my mentor and dear friend—Fern Michaels to

the world, Mary Kuczkir to me—who kept me going. To Pam

Strickler and Russell Galen, many thanks. And let us not forget

my new friend, the fabulous Matthew Rich, who helped me get

my act together. To my dear friend Linda Lauren who always

said this was in the cards, thank you, doll face, for your unending

support.And to my wonderful and forgiving sister, Lynn Bagnal.

Lynn, this is fiction, I swear it is. To my brothers, their lovely

wives, and anyone else related to me or anyone I have ever

known, I’d like to apologize for any embarrassment this story

may cause.

Finally, to my family—my beautiful daughter,Victoria, and

my gorgeous son, William, thank you for understanding why I

turned the house upside down to do this. It’s just your mom,

trying to live her dream.And, to my magnificent husband, Peter,

who practically walks on water, who ate take-out for two years

and just told me to keep going: I want the world to know how

grateful I am to you for believing in me. I love you all to your

last freckle.

Sullivan’s Island

}

A L o w c o u n t r y T a l e

Prologue

}

searched for sleep curled up in my quilt—the one

made for me at my birth by my paternal grandmother’s

I own hands. Southern women have always taken pride

in the excellence of their needlework. Over the years it had

been abused and then its edges rebound and its tears carefully

mended.The design was my grandmother’s own—so unique—

BOOK: Sullivans Island-Lowcountry 1
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