"No one can ever take the place of Dorothea Benton Frank, but by writing My Magnolia Summer, a novel of low country food, family drama, and just the right amount of romance, Victoria Benton Frank shows that she is the rightful heir to the crown of summertime storytellers. Her mother would be so proud." --Ann Patchett

In New York City winter never seems to loosen its hold and for South Carolina transplant Maggie (born Magnolia after the fairest summer flower) the balmy beach weather of April back home on Sullivan's Island feels like a distant memory. Until a phone call from her sister, Violet, changes everything.

Gran, the treasured matriarch, has fallen into a coma after a car accident caused by Maggie's troubled mother, Lily. But once Maggie returns, she finds that her hometown of Sullivan's Island holds even more secrets. The Magic Lantern, the restaurant owned and run by generations of women in her family, is now rudderless, and her sister seems headed for a savage breakup.

Once she is between the marsh grasses and dunes of South Carolina, she feels herself changing like the Atlantic tides, rediscovering the roots she left behind, and a new and different version of herself--one who can see how a minor crash into the back of a very handsome farmer's truck may become fortunate. Or perhaps it's even... fate?

When the three generations of South Carolina women join forces--the family pillar Gran, troubled Lily, impulsive Violet, and redoubtable Maggie--anything is possible.