Dorothea Benton Frank novels are filled with smart and witty fiction
that every reader wants on their bookshelf: soulful, edgy stories about
realistic characters familiar to us all that explore the most deeply
felt moments of life with wry humor and heart.
All Summer Long follows one charming New York couple - prominent
interior designer Olivia Ritchie and her husband Nicholas Seymour, an
English professor and true southern gentleman. They are seemingly polar
opposites, yet magnetically drawn together and in love for more than
fourteen years.
As they prepare to relocate to Charleston, S.C., Olivia, the ultimate
New Yorker, has reservations about the promise she made to retire in the
Lowcountry, where Nick wants to return home and lead a more peaceful
life. They are moving north to south, fast pace versus slow pace and
downsizing. Nick is ecstatic. Olivia is not. She can't let Nick know
that their finances are not what he thought. Her client list is
evaporating, their monetary reserves are dwindling and maybe that house
she picked out on Sullivans Island needs too much work. Thank God, for
her assistant, Roni Larini, her right (and sometimes left) hand.
As they find themselves pondering the next step of their lives, Olivia
and Nick travel with her billionaire clients and their friends and are
swept up into the world of the ultra-rich and explore the globe with a
cast of zany eccentrics over one tumultuous, hot summer. All as Olivia
grapples with what lies ahead for her and Nick.
This is a story of how plans evolve and lives change in unexpected ways,
how even those who have everything are still looking for something more.
Even the most successful people can often struggle to keep things
together. All Summer Long asks the ultimate question: can money buy
happiness? From Sullivans Island to Necker Island to Nantucket to the
beaches of Southern Spain, we'll come to recognize the many faces of
true love, love that deepens and endures but only because one woman
makes a tremendous leap of faith. And that leap changes everything.
