Today's Read: The Hurricane Sisters by Dorothea Benton Frank

What if you were sandwiched between your 80-year-old headstrong mother and your misdirected twenty-something daughter? This is Liz Waters's situation; she's not only juggling her own marriage and career but is worried about her mother's crazy ideas, her son's unconventional (read: gay) lifestyle, and her daughter's impractical dreams (to be an artist). The books opens near the end; here are Liz's words:

My husband, Clayton, and I were at the police station getting my mother, Massie, out of jail for brushing up against the wrong side of the law. Her actual charges were still unclear. She claims it is not against any law in the state of South Carolina to take a llama for a walk on the open road. He was, after all, on a leash. . . . So I sat and waited while Clayton made things right between the Town of Mount Pleasant and Maisie by writing a check

—The Hurricane Sisters by Dorothea Benton Frank (HarperCollins / William Morrow, 2014, p. 1)

Quick Facts

• Setting: the South Carolina Lowcountry; modern times
• Circumstances: Three generations of stubborn, independent women face different problems but must somehow come together to find a way to forgive and move forward
• Characters: Liz; her husband, Clayton; her mother, Massie; her daughter, Ashley; and her son, Ivy; townspeople; politicians; friends
• Genre: contemporary adult fiction; smart beach reading
• What I think about Frank's work: I've said it here before, I love Frank's perspective on women of a certain age and the problems they (we) face; her novels are funny, sharp, and light but also deal with real-life situations
• Thoughts on this novel so far: I love that the story is told from alternating viewpoints; Liz, Massie, Clayton, and Ashley all get their say; I'm only a quarter of the way through but I think Frank is on the top of her game with this one
• Themes (so far): family, marriage, parenthood, sandwich generation; love, dreams, following your passions
• Extra: I guess I should disclose that I've met Dottie a couple of times and I just love her.
• Audiobook: I'm listening to the unabridged audiobook (Harper Audio; 10 hr, 26 min). I'm a Yankee so I have no clue about the various southern accents, but I love Robin Miles's reading: I like her accent and she gets the humor, the sarcasm, and the sass and keeps her characterizations (male and female) consistent and believable.

If you're interested in the audiobook, or just want to hear a bit from chapter 1 (the teaser is from the prologue), click on the play button: