Folly Beach

A Lowcountry Tale

By: Dorothea Benton Frank

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 13 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Experience the wild beauty and sultry magic of New York Times best-selling author Dorothea Benton Frank's Carolina Lowcountry - where the pull of family is as powerful as the ocean tides and love can strike faster than lightening in summer....

Folly Beach is the land of Cate Cooper's childhood, the place where all the ghosts of her past roam freely. Cate never thought she'd wind up in a tiny cottage on this breathtakingly lovely strip of coast. But circumstances have changed, leaving Cate homeless, broke, and unmoored.

Yet Folly Beach holds more than just memories. Once upon a time another woman found unexpected bliss and comfort within its welcoming arms. An artist, writer, and colleague of the revered George Gershwin, Dorothy Heyward enjoyed the greatest moments of her life at Folly with her beloved husband, DuBose. And though the Heywards are long gone, their passion and spirit lingers in every mango sunset and gentle ocean breeze.

And for Cate, Folly, too, holds the promise of unexpected fulfillment. Folly Beach doesn't just hold the girl she once was... it also holds the promise of the woman she's always wanted - and is finally ready - to become. Filled with irresistible charm, saucy wit, and lush atmosphere, Folly Beach is vintage Dorothea Benton Frank.

©2011 Dorothea Benton Frank (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

One of her best!

A rich experience that highlights our financial times and a time of creativity in our past with similar financial constraints. DBF brilliantly highlighted many contrasts, the role of men balancing love, family and career and role of women in impowered relationship to the same. I loved her deeply expressed strength of the feminine that brings balance to adversity. It is a delightful southern experience!

Wasn't sure at first

This started out slow for me but I really fell in love with the story and characters the longer I listened.

another great read

another great story by dorothea. she always manages to make you part of the story

Folly Beach

Loved this story - really love this author books - keep my interest through out the whole book!

Loved it!

wonderful love story...I listened to it twice!...couldn't stop...I love the low country of South Carolina...wish I could spend more time there...the Spanish Moss trees remind me of another place and time..

I've been enjoying this series, but...

I've been listening to the Lowcountry Tales this summer and as much as I love Dorothea Benton Frank's stories, I don't recommend reading them back to back. They all start to sound the same.

In most of these books the main character is living in either New York or New Jersey, with Low Country roots. She is usually married to a complete, horrendous jerk or has recently gotten out of a relationship with a jerk ... which sends her back home to the Low Country. There's a contentious relationship with a parental figure, an obnoxious in-law or rival, and somebody is bound to get cancer somewhere along the way.

Even with these common threads and story lines, I find the books to be enjoyable and they keep me interested. They're great to listen to while I am working on chores around the house. What usually ends up bugging me are the narrators of this series. There need to be proof-listeners! In an early book, one narrator horribly mangles the pronunciation of "Edisto." Sometimes the southern accents are really bad. Robin Miles does a fair job with the accent (it's not great) but somebody needed to catch a big error in her reading that had me laughing.

What she said on the recording was "attracted like fillings to a magnet" - what I am sure was written was "attracted like filings to a magnet." There's a big difference between fillings and filings. Fillings are not magnetic... and if they are, you need to have a serious talk with your dentist!

Anyway, maybe I'm picky, but I am a professional writer and even when I am listening to instead of reading a book, I find myself correcting errors mentally and they distract me from the story being told.

I will continue reading books in this series, the stories are good and I love how the author weaves characters from previous books back into the series. It's like hearing from old friends and finding out how they're doing. I am taking a break for a while so I'll stop mentally comparing all the similar themes and story lines.

What about Folly Beach?

Very little about Folly Beach.... just another romance. No SC feel...very light on descriptions and history. Why didn't the female character franchise her sister's bakery to SC so that the southern ambience could come to life through daily life/customers? Could have been a healing journey...but the plots were scantily developed. The female victim's husband committed suicide. Oh well.... The male victim's wife tried to kill him. Oh well. Side plots were too dramatic for such bare mentions....victim-romances belong in a novel called "Betty Ford Center", not "Folly Beach". Guess we'll have to stick to Conroy for the SC feel....even if his characters are bigger than life. The reader was clear and had some good dialect-sounds.

Great story - irritating narration

I enjoyed the storyline. Yes, it was predictable but entertaining. Don't we read to be entertained? I found the narration to be irritating. Too me the characters sounded monotone, some even sounded like they were irritated all the time. The male characters came across as dorks. For me, the voice for John Risley did not match my visualization of him. I will listen to more Dorothea Benton Franks but I won't be listening to anymore Robin Miles.

Great read

As always I love this author.Her stories ne er fail to wow me and her characters surprise me.

great book

It took a bit to get into but it's a great book and story! I really enjoyed it!