Return to Sullivans Island (Large Print)

Author Letter

Dear Readers and Friends,

Of all I have written over the years, anything that takes place on Sullivans Island, South Carolina is especially sacred to me. It's where I grew up, it's where generations of my family have called home and it's the island that for me, and scores of others, is the most curative place in the world.

I repeated something in my first novel that an old man said to me years ago. I have never forgotten his words. He said, "Once you get that Sullivans Island sand in your shoes, your heart will ache to return." I could never have imagined the power of those words until life threw me around the world, landing finally in New Jersey where I have lived for over twenty years. Sullivans Island became the stage on which my dreams played themselves out. Every single night I would find myself there, in my mother's house, on her porch, in the yard, on the beach, walking down the streets - I am always there in my dreams.

Apparently a lot of people feel the same way about the magical powers of the island sand once it gets in their shoes. Ever since SULLIVANS ISLAND was published in February of 2000, a huge percentage of my mail comes from people who have been there, fell in love there, married there, lived there and they loved every fiddler crab in the creeks. And they wanted a sequel. A sequel? Wasn't it better to leave well enough alone? No. Once I started thinking about it, I wanted a sequel too.

In fact, I couldn't wait to see what was going on with Susan and Maggie and all the Hamilton clan, especially the twins, Susan's daughter, Beth and Cecily, the granddaughter of Livvie Singleton. So, now we RETURN TO SULLIVANS ISLAND to check the temperature of my favorite family and to see how the next generation comes of age. Never has place been more important because we are all left to wonder, how powerful is the island itself in shaping its population? And how much control does the population have to keep the island's serenity intact? And what matters more than the devotion and loyalty of a family?

RETURN TO SULLIVANS ISLAND is my tenth book, and that fact alone is completely stunning to me! I want to thank you, dear readers and friends for your unswerving support, your generous words of encouragement and to say, this book is for you.

Have a wonderful summer!

Dorothea Benton Frank

Email the author at dot@dotfrank.com or pay her a visit on Facebook.