Notes from August 2018 group

Pawleys Island by Dorothea Benton Frank - Discussed on Aug 1, 2018 at the Geneseo Library

Catapulted from her home, her marriage and her children, artist Rebecca Simms has come to Pawleys Island, South Carolina, to hide herself from herself. Little does she know that on this “arrogantly shabby” family playground, she’ll encounter three people who will change her life: a wise and irresistible octogenarian who will pry her secrets from her, a gallery owner who caters to interior decorators and heaven save us, tourists, and a retired attorney from Columbia who’s complacent in her fat and sassy life until Rebecca’s stormy advent.

This is an easy to read, soap opera style plot with quirky characters.  Pawleys Island is a real island in South Carolina near Myrtle Beach.  We enjoyed the beach setting and descriptions.  The villain was truly a bad, immoral guy.  We had great discussion on the characters and topics of spouse abuse, substance abuse, the trial, family/parent rights, and southern personalities etc.  The trial and ending were unrealistic.  Our group split on comments on this book – half liked it and others had mixed feelings.