"If I could only read one writer from now until the end of my life, it would be Dorothea Benton Frank." -Elin Hilderbrand, the New York Times bestselling authorImmerse yourself in the enchanting world of New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank's Carolina Lowcountry in this evocative tale that returns at long last to her beloved Sullivans Island. Beekeeper Holly McNee Jensen quietly lives in a world of her own on Sullivans Island, tending her hives and working at the local island library. Holly calls her mother The Queen Bee because she's a demanding hulk of a woman. Her mother, a devoted hypochondriac, might be unaware that she's quite ill but that doesn't stop her from tormenting Holly. To escape the drama, Holly's sister Leslie married and moved away, wanting little to do with island life. Holly's escape is to submerge herself in the lives of the two young boys next door and their widowed father, Archie. Her world is upended when the more flamboyant Leslie returns and both sisters, polar opposites, fixate on what's happening in their neighbor's home. Is Archie really in love with that awful ice queen of a woman? If Archie marries her, what will become of his little boys? Restless Leslie is desperate for validation after her imploded marriage, squandering her favors on any and all takers. Their mother ups her game in an uproarious and theatrical downward spiral. Scandalized Holly is talking to her honey bees a mile a minute, as though they'll give her a solution to all the chaos. Maybe they will. Queen Bee is a classic Lowcountry Tale-warm, wise and hilarious, it roars with humanity and a dropperful of whodunit added for good measure by an unseen hand. In her twentieth novel, Dorothea Benton Frank brings us back to her beloved island with an unforgettable story where the Lowcountry magic of the natural world collides with the beat of the human heart.

Queen Bee - A Novel

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 - A Novel

Hurricane season begins early and rumbles all summer long, well into September. Often people's lives reflect the weather and The Hurricane Sisters is just such a story. Once again New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank takes us deep into the heart of her magical South Carolina Lowcountry on a tumultuous journey filled with longings, disappointments, and, finally, a road toward happiness that is hard earned. There we meet three generations of women buried in secrets. The determined matriarch, Maisie Pringle, at eighty, is a force to be reckoned with because she will have the final word on everything, especially when she's dead wrong. Her daughter, Liz, is caught up in the classic maelstrom of being middle-age and in an emotionally demanding career that will eventually open all their eyes to a terrible truth. And Liz's beautiful twenty-something daughter, Ashley, whose dreamy ambitions of her unlikely future keeps them all at odds. Luckily for Ashley, her wonderful older brother, Ivy, is her fierce champion but he can only do so much from San Francisco where he resides with his partner. And Mary Beth, her dearest friend, tries to have her back but even she can't talk headstrong Ashley out of a relationship with an ambitious politician who seems slightly too old for her. Actually, Ashley and Mary Beth have yet to launch themselves into solvency. Their prospects seem bleak. So while they wait for the world to discover them and deliver them from a ramen-based existence, they placate themselves with a hare-brained scheme to make money but one that threatens to land them in huge trouble with the authorities. So where is Clayton, Liz's husband? He seems more distracted than usual. Ashley desperately needs her father's love and attention but what kind of a parent can he be to Ashley with one foot in Manhattan and the other one planted in indiscretion? And Liz, who's an expert in the field of troubled domestic life, refuses to acknowledge Ashley's precarious situation. Who's in charge of this family? The wake-up call is about to arrive. The Lowcountry has endured its share of war and bloodshed like the rest of the South, but this storm season we watch Maisie, Liz, Ashley, and Mary Beth deal with challenges that demand they face the truth about themselves. After a terrible confrontation they are forced to rise to forgiveness, but can they establish a new order for the future of them all?Frank, with her hallmark scintillating wit and crisp insight, captures how a complex family of disparate characters and their close friends can overcome anything through the power of love and reconciliation. This is the often hilarious, sometimes sobering, but always entertaining story of how these unforgettable women became The Hurricane Sisters.

The Hurricane Sisters - A Novel

Experience the sultry Southern atmosphere of Atlanta and the magic of the Carolina Lowcountry in this funny and poignant tale of one audacious woman's quest to find the love she deserves, from New York Times bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank. Leslie Anne Greene Carter is The Last Original Wife among her husband Wesley's wildly successful Atlanta social set. His cronies have all traded in the mothers of their children they promised to love and cherish-'til death did them part-for tanned and toned young Barbie brides. If losing the social life and close friends she adored wasn't painful enough, a series of setbacks shake Les's world and push her to the edge. She's had enough of playing the good wife to a husband who thinks he's doing her a favor by keeping her around. She's not going to waste another minute on people she doesn't care to know. Now, she's going to take some time for herself-in the familiar comforts and stunning beauty of Charleston, her beloved hometown. In her brother's stately historic home, she's going to reclaim the carefree girl who spent lazy summers sharing steamy kisses with her first love on Sullivans Island. Along Charleston's live oak- and palmetto-lined cobblestone streets, under the Lowcountry's dazzling blue sky, Les will indulge herself with icy cocktails, warm laughter, divine temptation and bittersweet memories. Daring to listen to her inner voice, she will realize what she wants .

The Last Original Wife - A Novel

"Dottie Frank's books are sexy and hilarious. She has staked out the lowcountry of South Carolina as her personal literary property."-Pat Conroy, author of The Prince of Tides and South of BroadThe incomparable Dorothea Benton Frank is back with her latest Lowcountry Novel, Folly Beach. As she has with Lowcountry Summer, Return to Sullivans Island, Land of Mango Sunsets, and so many other delightful literal excursions to this magical Southern locale, the perennial New York Times bestselling author enchants readers with a heart-warming tale of loss, acceptance, family, and love-as a woman returns to the past to find her  future. Folly Beach is a constant delight from "a masterful storyteller" (Booklist) who has already secured her place alongside Anne Rivers Siddons, Sue Monk Kidd, Rebecca Wells, Barbara Delinsky and other contemporary queens of bestselling women's fiction.

Folly Beach - A Lowcountry Tale

A moving story of the power of love and the miracles of life-chock full of Southern wit, sass, and charm Grace is an intelligent, (struggling-to-be) independent 31-year-old single woman living (in sin!) with the man she'd marry if they both weren't so commitment phobic. Michael is a doctor and a scientist and Grace has a good idea that he's also an atheist. Over the years, this dutiful Catholic girl has become ambivalent about her faith. But her family is as devoutly old-fashioned as it gets. The stage is set for a major showdown that might just change Grace's outlook on life, family, and the South itself.

Full of Grace

L'île aux palmiers

Et si vous voulez savoir pourquoi les grands éditeurs font peur aux écrivains du monde entier, lisez "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" de Lynne Truss. La police de la ponctuation est partout !

Quoi qu'il en soit, les histoires nous rassemblent pour trouver un terrain d'entente, pour trouver notre chemin dans la vie ensemble ou simplement pour nous divertir, et je suis ravi de faire partie de ce processus.

N'est-il pas incroyable à quel point les bonnes personnes peuvent faire les uns pour les autres lorsque vous leur donnez la possibilité d'aider?

Ma famille vient toujours en premier. Mon monde tourne autour de mon mari, Peter, notre fille, Victoria, et notre fils, William, mais pas nécessairement dans cet ordre. Ensuite, c'est ce monde fascinant de l'édition qui dévore la plupart de mes jours et plusieurs nuits.

Je ne veux pas toujours lire une fiction sérieuse. Mais quand je lis la fiction qui n'est pas sérieuse, je ne veux pas lire les bonbons du cerveau. Divertissez-moi, pour l'amour de Dieu.

J'adore cuisiner, mon mari et moi collectons du vin, et dans ma tête, je suis toujours sur l'île de Sullivan, marchant sur la plage en écoutant la chanson de l'océan.

Dieu, l'âge moyen est une insulte sans fin.

Aussi authentique qu'elle soit fascinante et finalement inoubliable. Votre passé vous trouvera et peut changer votre vie. Je pense que c'est le livre le plus émouvant que Patti Callahan ait jamais écrit.

Ce que je voulais faire, c'était gagner suffisamment d'argent pour payer la maison de ma mère. Lorsque ma mère est décédée, je voulais l'acheter dans le reste de ma famille et garder la maison dans la famille. C'était la seule raison pour laquelle j'ai même tenté d'écrire pour de l'argent.

J'ai toujours aimé lire, et maintenant que j'ai écrit 10 romans et quelques articles de magazines, je suis tombé au sérieux amoureux de l'écriture d'histoires et de les voir sortir dans le monde. C'est magique, tu sais?

Je pense que j'ai appris que si vous voulez réussir, vous devez raconter votre histoire honnêtement et de votre cœur - et je pense qu'un sens de l'humour sain ne fait pas non plus de mal.

Vous fait grandir rapidement. Le travail acharné vous rend fort. Je travaille dur tous les jours; C'est là que j'obtiens ma force. Cela et savoir qui je suis.

J'ai toujours pensé que les bibliothécaires étaient un peu comme les médecins, les agents de voyage et les professeurs tous en un seul. Nous savons tous qu'une grande histoire peut remonter le moral, vous emmener n'importe où dans le monde que vous voulez aller et dans n'importe quel temps pour démarrer, et les leçons que vous apprenez d'un bon livre peuvent surmonter vos propres convictions et même changer votre vie.

C'est ce que je voulais pour moi encore un peu de temps pour ne pas être au courant du reste du monde. J'avais besoin de temps.

Une nouvelle année était l'occasion de recommencer. Peut-être même, juste peut-être, il y aurait une paix sur terre pour une journée entière.

Si vous voulez savoir pourquoi tous les écrivains sont un peu fous, lisez «la maladie de minuit» d'Alice W. Flaherty. Elle parle de la volonté d'écrire, du bloc d'écrivain et du cerveau créatif. Je sais ce qui ne va pas avec moi!

Voici ma définition d'une grande lecture de plage - une histoire fabuleuse qui me suce comme un trou noir et quand c'est fini, ça jette mes os à travers la galaxie avec une mission de cheveux pour convaincre tous ceux que je sais qu'ils doivent lire ce livre ou ils vont mourir.

La première indication de la ménopause est un thermostat cassé. C'est soit ça, soit votre poids. En tout cas, si vous ne faites rien, vous pourriez être mort d'ici août. Dieu, l'âge moyen est une insulte sans fin.

Les livres étaient ma passion et mon évasion de la folie.

Ses oeuvres

Ses derniers livres