Review of On Folly Beach

On Folly Beach
Karen White
Harley House Books
390 pages
Emmy Hamilton is barely thirty but has known soul saddening loss, her husband Ben has been killed while serving in Afghanistan. Her mother Paige thinks Emmy has wallowed long enough and arranges for her to go to Folly Beach South Carolina where she’s to buy a book store and to get on with her life. But Emmy isn’t ready to get on with her life, according to her, her life ended with Ben’s death. But life had a way of surprising even the toughest of customers and Emmy soon finds a reason to get up every morning, it seems she’s found a mystery from WW11 concerning the family that previously owned the book store and she’s bound and determined to get to the bottom of it.
Karen White’s Lowlander novels have such heart and soul to them, they speak to the very deepest part of you and this one is no exception. It’s a story told in unfortunately thousands of households all across the country, a loved one dying while serving in the Middle East and the sacrifice of that solider often includes leaving someone he loves behind to try to pick up the broken pieces of their lives and try to go on, and Karen does this with grace, and heartbreaking honesty. She does it with her prose like dialogue where her vivid descriptions will take you on the beach and further into the Ocean where her visualizations will come to life for her readers. Her character Emmy makes your heart hurt and yet you want to push her on, cheer her up and embrace her as she takes baby steps back into life. Her co-staring characters are equally engrossing and we learn all we need to know about them from our very capable author. She seamlessly takes us from the early 1940s to the present as she spins her tale. She’ll keep your interest throughout the entire read and you’ll find yourself endlessly turning pages to find out what happens next. This is a poignant look at what secrets can cost their keepers and how it’s never too late to repent them.
Join those of us who have already learned all the secrets and solved all the mysteries, come back to the coast, smell the pluff mud, feel the sand between your toes, feel the pull of the tides all On Folly Beach. It’s The Must Read of this summer.