Sullivans Island-Lowcountry 1
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)
“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
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
16. Operating in the Christmas Theater
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
}
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—