June 1, 2005
Newly divorced and pregnant with her second child, Jillian Parrish seeks refuge in the South Carolina island community where she spent her childhood summers. Though Pawley's Island is the only place she feels truly at home, she is haunted by childhood memories of her parents' troubled marriage and the unsolved disappearance of her best friend, Lauren, especially when she reconnects with a friend who was implicated in the disappearance. When Grace, her precocious seven-year-old, begins to communicate with an imaginary friend named Lauren, information is revealed that will irrevocably change the lives of the island's inhabitants. White takes great care with the setting and characters, especially Jillian's conflicted feelings about family and motherhood. Her prose is lyrical, and she weaves in elements of mysticism and romance without being heavy-handed. This is an accomplished novel about loss and renewal, and readers will be taken with the people and stories of Pawley's Island.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)