All Summer Long

Dorothea Benton Frank's 2016 novel follows a Manhattan couple through one transformative summer. He is a history professor who wants to go home to the South Carolina Lowcountry and lead a more peaceful life; she is a successful New York interior designer who is not at all sure she is ready to trade a fast pace for a slow one.

They downsize and relocate, but the move is complicated by the financial troubles she keeps to herself. Their summer takes them from the Lowcountry into the orbit of wealthy clients and lavish vacations, and the contrast keeps exposing what the marriage is really built on.

By turns funny, shocking and warm, it is a story about north versus south, fast versus slow, and the endurance of love and commitment when circumstances change underneath it.