The Last Original Wife

I think Dorothea Benton Frank is one of today's best southern writers. She really captures the spirit of the South, and I always want to visit Charleston after I read one of her novels! Her latest is no exception.

Leslie Carter is the "last original wife" of the title - all of her husband's friends have married younger women, and she's stuck trying to make conversation with "the Barbies" every weekend at their posh Atlanta club. When Leslie and her husband Wes take a trip to Scotland with Harold and trophy-wife Courteney, Les has an accident and winds up in the hospital - and Wes goes off to play golf and leaves Courteney there to keep her company. Well, that's pretty much the last straw for Les. Once home she flies to her brother, Harlan, in Charleston. There she finds love, acceptance, and her old high school boyfriend... and the courage to stand up for the life she is entitled to.

DBF writes great characters, top among them Leslie, Harlan, and Leslie's best friend Danette. She's also a natural with southern dialect and expressions. But on top of that, her descriptions of Charleston are like the best tour book I ever read. I'm not kidding, we went to Charleston and Savannah one year over the holidays because of the way she described Charleston at Christmas in one of her books. I swear. And this is just a fun novel, and a really easy read. I just ate it up, y'all.

The Last Original Wife