This book picks up the story begun in Chamberlain’s earlier book, Before the Storm. As this new novel opens, Maggie Lockwood is about to be released from prison after serving time for her role in a church fire that killed three people.  Keith Weston wasn’t killed in that fire, but he was badly burned–scarred physically and emotionally.  That he had his own role in starting the fire is something he suppresses, instead focusing his anger on Maggie.  (In this he is not alone, most of the residents of Topsail are outraged that Maggie has been released from prison.) Keith is battling a lot of things–anger, pain, the storminess of adolescence–and he is completely unprepared for his mother to walk out of his life.  But she does.  Maggie’s family tries to help him, and soon all the characters are caught up in a revenge plot that none of them see coming

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library catalog.

Posted: October 8th, 2009 under 2000-, 2009, Chamberlain, Diane, Coast, Pender.
Comments: none

A Chosen Few is the third in Carolyn Booth’s trilogy of books that recount the struggles of rural, coastal North Carolinians during the 1920s and 1930s. While the plot revolves around the Ryan and McBride families and their relationships, much of the characters’ attention and activities are directed toward the the Penderlea Homestead Farms and other New Deal politics/projects of the Great Depression. The brainchild of Wilmington businessman Hugh MacRae, the Penderlea Homesteads were meant to be part of a cooperative, self-sufficient “farm city” in Pender County that would provide resettlement and relief for bankrupt farmers. The author was born in Bladen County and her family lived on a Penderlea Homestead until 1939; A Chosen Few is loosely based on her family and its experiences.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC-Chapel Hill Library Catalog.

Posted: November 3rd, 2008 under 2000-, 2008, Bladen, Booth, Carolyn Rawls, Coast, Coastal Plain, Historical, Novels in Series, Onslow, Pender.
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Topsail Islanders have room in their hearts for a flawed mother with a son who is a bit ‘different’ and a daughter who seems to have her act together. That changes after young Andy Lockwood becomes a hero for saving other children from a church fire. The fire, and the media attention it receives, unsettles the community. Perhaps things are not as they seemed. As the story unfolds, Laurel Lockwood has to defend her son from suspicion even as she mulls over the mistakes that she has made in her life and those that her children may have made.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

Posted: July 31st, 2008 under 2000-, 2008, Chamberlain, Diane, Coast, Pender.
Comments: none

When Hallie Knight receives an invitation to visit Topsail Island, she accepts, viewing it as a welcome opportunity to take a break from her California life and her unfaithful husband. The visit is not a simple one, however. The invitation was extended by Captain Trench, the wealthy and ill grandfather of Hallie’s old friend Susan. Susan disappeared from her home two years ago and the Captain wants Hallie to find out what happened to her. As Hallie becomes more involved with the family and its secrets, she discovers that some relatives stand to inherit a fortune if Susan stays missing and decides that people know more than they are telling about the disappearance.

Check this title’s availability in the UNC Library Catalog.

Posted: July 9th, 2008 under 1990-1999, 1997, Coast, Mystery, Onslow, Pender, Whitney, Phyllis A..
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