Dorothea Benton Frank, Shem Creek

Shem Creek

Dorothea Benton Frank

Berkley, Aug 2004

ISBN: 0425196089

Linda Breland flees New Jersey to come home to the Carolina Low Country because she worries about her two teen daughters and a cash shortage that would improve with a lower cost of living. It does not hurt her to also leave behind her former spouse Fred who she divorced five years ago and who is remarrying a younger woman.

Linda told her two children that they are going to her hometown area on a vacation failing to say that it is a permanent move. She figures she can deal with that problem after they settle in the area. Her older child Lindsey has fewer issues probably because she is going off to college in the fall. Her younger daughter Gracie struggles with the environmental change from the Exurbia wrong crowd that she hung with to rustification that is until she meets Alex, the son of Linda's boss.

SHEM CREEK, the latest Low Country drama, is an enjoyable character study that predominantly looks deep into a mother and daughter relationship as each struggles to adjust to a radical change in lifestyle. Linda is an interesting lead protagonist as she is a steel magnolia with some northern brass; Gracie makes the tale with her Jersey Girl attitude crashing against the gentle Carolina sod. Though the action is limited, series fans and anyone who enjoys a slice of life family drama style will appreciate Dorothea Benton Frank's current Carolina comfy caper.

Harriet Klausner