Of the many barrier islands that pepper the coast of South Carolina’s Lowcountry, Pawleys Island, the “arrogantly shabby” family playground for generations, might be the most mysterious and charming of them all. It is here and in the surrounding area that Dorothea Benton Frank has placed her latest Lowcountry tale, Pawleys Island. Meet Huey Valentine, the owner of Gallery Valentine, catering to interior decorators and, heaven save us, tourists. Huey resides on his family plantation on the shores of the Waccamaw River, where he cares for his mother, Miss Olivia, a wise and irresistible octogenarian. And meet Huey’s great friend Abigail Thurmond, retired attorney from Columbia, who has laid claim to her family’s home on Pawleys Island.
