Theodora is the matriarch of a family that has grown into a bunch of truculent knuckleheads. While she's finally gotten them all together in South Carolina to celebrate, this Christmas looks nothing like the extravagant, homey holidays of her childhood.
What happened to the days when Christmas meant tables groaning with home-cooked goodies, over-the-top decorations, and long chats in front of the fire with Pearl, her grandmother's beloved housekeeper and closest confidante?
Luckily for Theodora, a special someone who heard her plea for help arrives, with pockets full of enough Gullah magic and common sense to make Theodora's Christmas the love-filled miracle it's meant to be.

The Christmas Pearl

Literature & Fiction

DOROTHEA BENTON FRANK

United States

William Morrow

The perennial New York Times bestselling author returns with an emotionally resonant novel that illuminates the power of friendship in women's lives, and is filled with her trademark wit, poignant and timely themes, sassy, flesh-and-blood characters, and the steamy Southern atmosphere and beauty of her beloved Carolina Lowcountry. Few writers capture the complexities, pain, and joy of relationships-between friends, family members, husbands and wives, or lovers-as beloved New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank. In this charming, evocative, soul-touching novel, she once again takes us deep into the heart of the magical Lowcountry where three amazing middle-aged women are bonded by another amazing woman's death. Through their shared loss they forge a deep friendship, asking critical questions. Who was their friend and what did her life mean? Are they living the lives they imagined for themselves? Will they ever be able to afford to retire? How will they maximize their happiness? Security? Health? And ultimately, their own legacies? A plan is conceived and unfurls with each turn of the tide during one sweltering summer on the Isle of Palms. Without ever fully realizing how close they were to the edge, they finally triumph amid laughter and maybe even newfound love.

All the Single Ladies: A Novel - Autographed Signed Copy

William Morrow Company

3 Book Box Set Folly Beach Bulls Island Porch Lights

SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, DOROTHEA BENTON FRANK! New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank returns to her magical Lowcountry of South Carolina in this bewitching story of marriage, love, family, and friendship that is infused with her warm and engaging earthy humor and generous heart. One enchanted summer, two couples begin a friendship that will last more than twenty years and transform their lives. A chance meeting on the Isle of Palms, one of Charleston's most stunning barrier islands, brings former sweethearts, Adam Stanley and Eve Landers together again. Their respective spouses, Eliza and Carl, fight sparks of jealousy flaring from their imagined rekindling of old flames. As Adam and Eve get caught up on their lives, their partners strike up a deep friendship--and flirt with an unexpected attraction--of their own. Year after year, Adam, Eliza, Eve, and Carl eagerly await their reunion at Wild Dunes, a condominium complex at the island's tip end, where they grow closer with each passing day, building a friendship that will withstand financial catastrophe, family tragedy, and devastating heartbreak. The devotion and love they share will help them weather the vagaries of time and enrich their lives as circumstances change, their children grow up and leave home, and their twilight years approach. Bursting with the intoxicating richness of Dorothea Benton Frank's beloved Lowcountry--the sultry sunshine, cool ocean breezes, icy cocktails, and starry velvet skies--Same Beach, Next Year is a dazzling celebration of the infrangible power of friendship, the enduring promise of summer, and the indelible bonds of love.

Same Beach, Next Year - Signed / Autographed Copy

William Morrow and Company

The Lowcountry of South Carolina is where By Invitation Only begins at a barbecue engagement party thrown by Diane English Stiftel, her brother Floyd, and her parents to celebrate her son's engagement. On this gorgeous, magical night, the bride's father, Alejandro Cambria, a wealthy power broker whose unbelievably successful career in private equity made him one of Chicago's celebrated elite, discovers the limits and possibilities of cell phone range. While the mother of the bride, Susan Kennedy Cambria, who dabbles in the world of public relations and believes herself deserving of every square inch of her multimillion-dollar penthouse and imaginary carrara marble pedestal, learns about moonshine and dangerous liaisons. Soon By Invitation Only zooms to Chicago, where the unraveling accelerates. Nearly a thousand miles away from her comfortable, familiar world, Diane is the antithesis of the bright lights and super-sophisticated guests attending her son Fred's second engagement party. Why a second party? Maybe it had been assumed that the first one wouldn't be up to snuff? Fred is marrying Shelby Cambria, also an only child. The Cambrias' dearest wish is for their daughter to be happy. If Shelby wants to marry Frederick, aka Fred, they will not stand in her way-although Susan does hope her friends won't think her daughter is marrying more than a few degrees beneath her socially. At the same time, Diane worries that her son will be lost to her forever. By Invitation Only is a tale of two families, one struggling to do well, one well to do, and one young couple-the privileged daughter of Chicago's crème de la crème and the son of hard -working Southe

By Invitation Only (B&N Exclusive Edition)

HarperCollins, Publishers

Queen Bee

Plantation

Jove Books

Isle of Palms: A Lowcountry Tale

Genre Fiction

Thorndike Press

Meet Linda Breland, single parent of two teenage daughters. The oldest, Lindsey, who always held her younger sister in check, is leaving for college. And Gracie, her Tasmanian devil, is giving her nightmares. Linda's personal life? Well, between the married men, the cold New Jersey winters, her pinched wallet and her ex-husband who marries a beautiful, successful woman ten years younger than she is - let's just say, Linda has seen enough to fill a thousand pages. As the story opens, she is barreling down Interstate 95, bound for Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, the land of her ancestors. Welcomed by the generous heart of her advice-dispensing sister, Mimi, Linda and her daughters slowly begin to find their way and discover a sweeter rhythm of life. And then there's Brad Jackson, a former investment banker of Atlanta, Georgia who hires her to run his restaurant on Shem Creek. Like everyone else, Brad's got a story of his own - namely an almost ex-wife, Loretta who is the kind of gal who gives women a bad name. The real protagonist of this story is the Lowcountry itself. The magical waters of Shem Creek, the abundant wildlife and the astounding power of nature give this tiny corner of the planet its infallible reputation as a place for introspection, contemplation and healing. As in all her previous work, you'll find Shem Creek to be compulsively readable, irreverent but warm and blazingly authentic - and you'll dread reaching the last page. It is her vivid writing, colorful characters and rich narrative that have made Dorothea Benton Frank one of our nation's greatest storytellers. Shem Creek is a triumphant novel that proves we are all entitled to a second chance. The challenge is to learn how to recognize it when it comes and to know which chance to take.

Shem Creek A Low Country Tale

BERKLY BOOKS

Shem Creek

Linda Breland is the single parent of two teenage daughters. The oldest, Lindsey, is just about to leave for college, and Gracie, her youngest, is giving her nightmares. Between the cold New York winters, Linda's dating drought, financial problems and an ex-husband who has married a beautiful, successful woman ten years younger than she is, Linda has reached the end of her tether even before she discovers birth control pills in Gracie's school bag. So when she is offered the chance to move back to her home town, Linda grabs it. She is welcomed by her generous sister Mimi, who dispenses good advice along with an endless supply of cookies, cake and lessons in how to be a lady. Meanwhile, Linda, despite her lack of experience, convinces local restaurateur, Brad Jackson, to give her a job managing the Shem Creek Cafe. Ignoring Gracie's protests at her enforced uprooting, Linda begins to hope that the Deep South and Mimi's good influence will work their magic on her rebellious daughter. And that maybe she too can find a better life, one in which she won't be rushing around fulfilling everyone's needs but her own.

Contemporary

Piatkus Books

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Books by DOROTHEA BENTON FRANK