On Folly Beach-Karen White

On Folly Beach
Karen White
NAL, May 4 2010, $15.00
ISBN: 9780451229212

In Noblesville, Indiana Emmy knows her beloved Ben died while serving in Afghanistan. Her parents help her with her loss.

In 1942 in Folly Beach, South Carolina, Widow Catherine is tired of grieving for her spouse Jim who died in Pearl Harbor. She persuades her cousin Maggie to go dancing. Maggie loved Jim, who dumped her for Cat. Maggie’s nine year old sister Lulu also loved Jim. The sailors want Cat while civilian Peter prefers Maggie, the only male who does. Peter informs her he cannot serve due to his asthma, but does his best checking the quality of his father’s leather goods made in Iowa for the military.

In 2009, six months have passed since Ben was buried; Emily hides inside her mom’s bookstore. Paige tells her daughter Emily that Folly’s Find owner Abigail is retiring and wants to sell her Folly Beach store. Emily reluctantly agrees to look at the store.

In 1942, Peter visits Maggie at her bookstore Folly’s Find where he meets a belligerent Lulu but he is gentle with her. Cat meets Peter who is polite but ignores her. Lulu is shocked as this is the first time she saw Cat lose a man.

In 2009, Emily rents a house that Abigail’s son Heath was building for him and his fiancée. After he needed radiation treatment for cancer, his engagement ended. Emily sees the tree in the garden with bottles tied to it. Inside are notes as there are inside books published in 1942. Lulu nastily tells her she is trespassing.

The two well written subplots rotate back and forth while complementing one another. .The links between the periods are the store and Great-Aunt Lulu, but the entire cast in both time frames is fully developed within the family mystery. Fans will relish visiting Folly Beach during WWII in which the rumored Nazi presence is on everyone’s mind and in 2009 when descendents look back over six decades ago.

Harriet Klausner