Shem Creek: A Lowcountry Tale [Hardcover]

Dorothea Benton Frank (Author)

Book Description

Series: Lowcountry Tales | Publication Date: August 3, 2004

The new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Isle of Palms...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Frank (Isle of Palms) delivers another novel rich in the charms of smalltown South Carolina, the fourth in her bestselling Lowcountry series. Linda Breland, a single mother tired of living hand-to-mouth in New Jersey, decides to move herself and her two teenage daughters to her distant hometown of Mount Pleasant, S.C., where her sister, Mimi, still lives. Linda's straight-shooting style impresses local restaurateur Brad Jackson, who hires her to manage his restaurant; hints of a future romance are about as subtle as a kitchen fire. Frank easily, breezily shifts among her multiple first-person narrators. In Linda and Mimi, she explores two very different lives: Mimi is divorced, childless and neat as a pin; Linda is outspoken, maternal and frank about her teenage pregnancy and youthful marriage, which fell apart when her husband's mid-life crisis sent him into the arms of a younger woman. Similarly, Linda's daughters—dependable Lindsay, who is starting college in the fall, and smart-mouthed Gracie, whose penchant for hanging out with the wrong crowd helped fuel her mother's desire to move—offer a marvelous sibling contrast. The strong pull of friendship, the leisurely pace of a tiny, waterfront Southern town, and the steady buildup of romance help buoy Frank's well-drawn, memorable characters in the face of life's challenges.
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Review

** 'Tough, tender, achingly real and very, very funny.' Anne Rivers Siddons ** 'Hilarious and wise.' Pat Conroy ** 'Southern womanhood has found a new voice and it is outrageous, hilarious, relentless and impossible to ignore.' John Berendt, bestelling author of MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1ST edition (August 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425196089
• ISBN-13: 978-0425196083
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,109,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am the author of eleven novels placed in and around the Lowcountry of South Carolina and thanking God for my chance to speak. When I'm not writing, I'm reading or gardening or cooking. Love to travel, shoot the bull with people and most of all, be with my husband, children and dogs - not always necessarily in that order. Just finished my eleventh book - Lowcountry Summer for William Morrow and it will come out June 15, 2010. Love to have company so come visit at www.dotfrank.com. And by the way, serious huge gushing thanks for everything - your kind words and emails. Writing saves me, but without your support it wouldn't mean much. (So I'm a little sappy and sentimental - big deal.) xxoo Dot

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Finding Second Chances in the Low Country, August 23, 2004

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shem Creek: A Lowcountry Tale (Hardcover)

Dorothea Benton Frank continues her books about life in the Low Country of South Carolina and gives voice to the middle-aged woman who needs to start over. At a book signing with the author that I attended recently, she said that a large segment of our population is made up of people who find themselves at a dead-end in middle age. Whether through divorce, death of a spouse, or never having married, these people need to forge a new path and make a better life for themselves.

Linda Breland is such a woman. A divorced New Jersey mom of two teen daughters, she is finding living from paycheck-to-paycheck frustrating and unfulfilling. Missing the closeness she needs to have with her daughters and depressed by her dead-end job, she is horrified to find contraceptives in her fifteen-year-old's makeup bag. At the end of her rope and desperate for a simpler life, she packs the family up and drives from New Jersey to her native South Carolina. There she finds the support system she needs in the form of her sister. Then she finds a job managing a restaurant and widens her circle of friends with some delightful characters, not the least of whom is restaurant owner Brad Jackson who has a rather messy marriage in his past and a teenage son.

How Linda learns to jumpstart her life, make friends, and find a deeper mother/daughter bond with her daughters makes for a light but uplifting read for everyone who has thought, "I deserve better!"

A special bonus for devoted readers of Dorothea Benton Frank is that some favorite characters from SULLIVAN'S ISLAND and ISLE OF PALMS make cameo appearances in this one.

My only complaint with this novel is the ending was evident from the very beginning. I would have liked to have had more of the unexpected. Though not as riveting as Frank's earlier works such as SULLIVAN'S ISLAND and PLANTATION, this was a nice and refreshing look at life in the changing lane.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars keeps getting worse, September 17, 2004

By 

reader from NC (NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shem Creek: A Lowcountry Tale (Hardcover)

I loved SULLIVAN'S ISLAND, liked PLANTATION, ISLE OF PALM was ok,but SHEM CREEK is simply a poor book. Linda Breland divorced
mother of 2 moves her family to her hometown Shem Creek. The
story goes down hill from there, she moves in with her sister, finds a job, falls in love. The plot was mainly boring and and the characters struck me a being false. Maybe there are people who talk that way but I don't know them. In anycase save your money and wait for the paperback.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not up to par with others....., November 30, 2004

By 

Connie "DBF Fan" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shem Creek: A Lowcountry Tale (Hardcover)

The low country of South Carolina is my second home, so I love to read books that take place there. I have enjoyed all four of Benton Frank's books, but found this one lacking. While enjoyable, Shem Creek was not as rich or complex as the other three books, and lacked the more intricate character development and low country feeling contained in her other works. The resurfacing in minor roles of major characters from prior books is interesting and fun, but I find it annoying that I cannot quite remember just who they were. Some sort of key to characters would be helpful in forthcoming books.