The Land of Mango Sunsets

The title may conjure images of a romance novel, but don't let it fool you. This audiobook blends humor and humanity. Nanette Savard's Southern drawl moves between a Carolina barrier island's bohemian atmosphere and the social-climbing milieu of New York City. When the main character changes from stodgy, supercilious Miriam to carefree, warm Mellie, her life takes on unexpected changes. Savard cheerfully brings the characters to life, carrying on through insightful descriptions and folksy declarations. This audiobook is fun to hear and difficult to put down. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

February 5, 2007
A middle-aged woman's self-discovery is predictable but not pedestrian in Frank's (Full of Grace
; Pawleys Island
) latest. A divorce has stalled Miriam Swanson's life: her snooty Hermès-swathed Manhattan friends abandoned her after her ex-husband "ran off with his whore"; one of her grown sons keeps her at arm's length, while her other son, a "nice nerd," stays beneath the family radar for months at a time; and the major drawback to her job at a museum is her boss—icy former friend Agnes Willis. In a twist that stretches disbelief, Miriam catches Agnes's husband, Truman, having a noisy rendezvous with Liz, the cute new tenant in Miriam's townhouse. After a brief interlude that sends Miriam to a South Carolina barrier island to visit her former cotillion queen mother—and meet the dreamy local Harrison Ford ("Not that wimpy actor")—Miriam reveals Truman's affair, with consequences that fuel the remainder of the book. Frank's narrative is heavy on healing—physically, mentally—and the importance of family, and though her sometimes delightfully nasty heroine is sympathetic, supporting cast members have one note apiece. This isn't Frank's finest, but it'll sate her fans.

March 15, 2007
Even Miriam Elizabeth Swanson's mother describes her as a fussbudget who is stubborn, unrealistic in her expectations of others, and a prig. Here she gets to tell her own story of life as a lonely divorcée estranged from her grown sons, living in New York City with a gay tenant and an African Gray parrot, and begging for assignments on charity committees. On a visit to the family cottage on Sullivan's Island in South Carolina, she is shocked by her socialite mother's new hippie lifestyle of growing organic vegetables, raising goats and chickens, and no longer dying her hair. But it takes an accident and an act of violence to force Miriam to alter her own life, which means returning to the island to learn to relax and love again.New York Times best-selling author Frank (Sullivan's Island ) uses a great deal of humor to tell the story of a woman desperate for change and paints beautiful word pictures of the Low Country. Although some of the characters are stereotypes and others are not fleshed out enough, this is still a memorable book that should be in all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 1/07.]Lesa M. Holstine, Glendale P.L., AZ

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