The Hurricane Sisters (audiobook) by Dorothea Benton Frank

• Title:  The Hurricane Sisters
• Author:  Dorothea Benton Frank
• Narrator:  Robin Miles
• Genre:  Women’s Fiction
• Published:  June 2014 – Harper Audio
• Source:  Purchased

Synopsis:  Once again 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 80, 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-aged and in an emotionally demanding career that will eventually open all their eyes to a terrible truth. And Liz’s beautiful 20-something daughter, Ashley, whose dreamy ambitions of her unlikely future keeps them all at odds. The Lowcountry has endured its share of war and bloodshed like the rest of the South, but this storm season we watch Maisie, Liz, and, Ashley 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? This is the often hilarious, sometimes sobering, but always entertaining story of how these unforgettable women became The Hurricane Sisters.  (publisher)

My take:  I thought The Hurricane Sisters quite different in tone compared to The Last Original Wife but I still liked it. Some eccentricities aside, the Waters family is not that different from a lot of families. They accept and protect their own but sometimes they aren’t so nice to each other. Underneath it all they love each other and will defend them to the end.

At the forefront of the novel are the rather naive Ashley, her long-suffering mother Liz, and the matriarch Maisie who doesn’t tiptoe around anyone. Big secrets figure into the plot but rest assured all will be dealt with by the last page.

The Hurricane Sisters is just the second book by Dorothea Benton Frank I’ve read. I look forward to catching up with her backlist.

As in The Last Original Wife, Robin Miles’ narration was  great and made the book even more enjoyable. I loved her performance.