Summer in the South: A NovelCathy Holton, author of the popular Beach Trip, returns with an intriguing and mysterious tale of dark deeds and family secrets in a small Southern town. After a personal tragedy, Chicago writer Ava Dabrowski quits her job to spend the summer in Woodburn, Tennessee, at the invitation of her old college friend Will Fraser and his two great-aunts, Josephine and Fanny Woodburn. Her charming hosts offer Ava a chance to relax at their idyllic ancestral estate, Woodburn Hall, while working on her first novel. But Woodburn is anything but quiet: Ancient feuds lurk just beneath its placid surface, and modern-day rivalries emerge as Ava finds herself caught between the competing attentions of Will and his black-sheep cousin Jake. Fascinated by the family’s impressive history—their imposing house filled with treasures, and their mingling with literary lions Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and Faulkner—Ava stumbles onto rumors about the darker side of the Woodburns’ legacy. Putting aside her planned novel, she turns her creative attentions to the eccentric and tragic clan, a family with more skeletons (and ghosts) in their closets than anyone could possibly imagine. As Ava struggles to write the true story of the Woodburns, she finds herself tangled in the tragic history of a mysterious Southern family whose secrets mirror her own. |
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Alice aunts Ava asked Ava felt Ava's barbecue called Charlie Woodburn Charlie's cicadas Clara Clotilde Clotilde's cocktail coffee Dalloway dark Darlene Detroit River door dressed drink Edgar Allan Poe eyes face Fanny and Josephine Fanny's father feel fingers Fraser fried green tomatoes front galley kitchen garden girl glanced glass grinned Hadley hair hand head hear imagine Jake Woodburn Jake's kitchen knew Kudzu later laughed lawn leaned live Longford looked lunch Maitland married miniature horses morning mother never night novel opened Papa pulled quiet Rachel seemed shotgun houses shoulder Singapore Slings sleep sleep paralysis smiled someone stared stood stopped story street summer talk tall tell There's thing thought told Tom Penny took town trees trying turned Vanderbilt voice waiting walked watching Will's window woman Woodburn Hall