Review: Lowcountry Summer by Dorothea Benton Frank

Caroline Wimbley is matriarch of a large Southern family. She is easing into the role following the death of her mother, Lavinia, who seems to loom large at Tall Pines both in life and death. As a newly crowned matriarch, Caroline has her work cut out for her. Her brother's estranged wife, Frances Mae, has a drinking problem which has once again veered out of control and she is frequently being brought home by the police. Their three daughters are a rowdy bunch without any of the refined manners that their Aunt Caroline expects of young Southern women. Somehow, Caroline must keep up the appearance of the family despite their antics. Lowcountry Summer is the story of a large Southern family, their fearless matriarch and her adventures in holding up standards.

Caroline is riddled with contradictions - she is very concerned about what people think of the family but she liaises with a series of men for flings and the whole town knows. She worships tradition and regales the younger members of the family with the family history all the way back to Colonel Sherman. At the same time however, she broke with tradition herself when she married a "Yankee" psychologist and moved to New York City as a young woman. She wants her nieces, however, to maintain certain Southern traditions including being "debuted" to society.  It won't be easy to get this crew ready for presentation. Although Caroline may have been conflicted about these traditions at points of her own life, she now feels a great obligation, and desire, to uphold them almost as an offering to her mother, Lavinia.

My Thoughts
At first, I found some of Caroline's traditions and her steadfast defense of them, frustrating.  They seemed anachronistic and Caroline was out of touch by insisting that her family try to adhere to them.  But as the book progressed, Caroline grew on me.  I began to understand that a love for her mother and everything she held dear was driving Caroline as matriarch. Although the Wimbley family is dysfunctional, there is a lot of love to go around that family and it binds them together.

The dysfunction also brings a humorous element to the book - I couldn't help but laugh at some of the escapades of Caroline's nieces.  Perhaps even funnier, however, is Caroline's horrified reaction to each new embarrassment perpetrated by the teenage hellions.

I am looking forward to immersing myself in other southern charmers by this author (including the prequel to this novel, Plantation).