Multiple layers of mystery and romance, Southern sensibilities, and dark family secrets combine to make Summer in the South one of those novels that you don't want to put down. On the surface the story sounds deceivingly typical: disenchanted aspiring writer Ava Dabrowski is at a personal and career crossroads when old college friend Will Fraser invites her to abandon her job in Chicago and spend the summer living and writing a novel at his family home in Woodburn, Tennessee. Ava, who has recently lost her free-spirited mother, Clotilde, and ended a stressful romance, agrees to the arrangement, quits her job in Chicago, and drives to Tennessee with Clotilde's ashes strapped into the front passenger seat of her car.
Will's great aunts, Fanny and Josephine, and Fanny's husband, Maitland Sinclair, welcome Ava to their home and community. Sweet tea, a friendly flirtation with Will, daily 5 o'clock "toddy time," and breakfasts with her amiable hosts lull Ava into a relaxing routine, but her muse remains elusive and her novel unwritten until she is inspired by the story of the mysterious death of Fanny's first husband, Charlie Woodburn. A recurrence of her childhood sleep paralysis (complete with a ghostly presence in her room) and access to old family journals inspire Ava to spend her nights writing the fictionalized story of Charlie's mysterious life and death. Ava is intrigued by past and present family secrets and by ostracized cousin Jake Woodburn, but none of these are things that the Woodburn family wants to discuss. Complicating Ava's summer are new revelations regarding her nomadic childhood with Clotilde, Will's obvious desire to move their relationship in a different direction, and her friendship with Jake.
Holton has created a quirky small-town atmosphere and intriguing and endearing characters, combining wonderful references to the 1920's and to more recent past. Multi-layered and mysterious, this one is a winner. I would recommend it!
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