Moon Over Edisto
“Moon Over Edisto is enchanting.”
Have you ever been betrayed or disillusioned by someone close to you, so much so that you carry bitterness and hurt for years? Such is the case with Julia Bennett.
Raised in Charleston, South Carolina, and the Edisto Island Low Country with her younger sister Meg, Julia remembers a blissful childhood. While in college, she brings her best friend Marney for the summer. She is happy to share her family with Marney—until her friend breaks up Julia’s parents’ marriage and marries Julia’s father.
After graduating, Julia does not return to her beloved place of birth, but enjoys a fulfilling career as an art professor and artist in Manhattan. She also becomes engaged to Simon, her longtime boyfriend and is soon planning her wedding.
Marney unexpectedly shows up in New York with a request Julia finds inconceivable. Suffering with lung cancer, Marney asks Julia to watch her children while she is in the hospital. Julia cannot believe the impudence of her old friend, though her heart breaks at the thought of her two half-sisters and half-brother being alone. There is no one else, for neither Julia nor Marney would consider asking Julia’s mother or her sister to care for them, for they abhor Marney more than Julia does.
Julia returns to her homestead filled with concern for her half-siblings. There, she recalls her idyllic youth while becoming acquainted with the children. Enchanted by the ambience of her homeland, she is also thrilled to reunite with her childhood crush, Jed, her first kiss, who is now a doctor.
Julia finds her life is completely different from that in New York. Interestingly, she does not suffer the anxiety attacks that have plagued her for a long time. Though the children are her priority, she refuses to see Marney, unable to let go of her betrayal.
Moon Over Edisto is enchanting. Ms. Webb Hart shows superb skill in delving deep into the heart of a dysfunctional family. And with her detailed descriptions, the reader can almost feel the humidity of the Low Country, smell the acrid scent of pluff mud, hear the chirping of insects, and listen to the calls of the indigenous wildlife.
A pleasant and satisfying read.