By the Rivers of Babylon by Mary Glickman

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On a sultry South Carolina island, sunlight teases out the darkest secrets of the heart, in this novel from the author of An Undisturbed Peace.

Joe and Abigail Becker, a Jewish couple from Boston, have inherited a house on Sweetgrass Island in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. Though they feel like fish out of water, the couple is excited to give the South a try–and maybe even find it a place to finally call home.

Their Boston friends are convinced they won’t last the summer. But the South works its magic on the Beckers, holding them fast to misty marsh, farmlands, and grand oaks, the sweet twang of banjos and the blues. Even the locals have put aside their usual mistrust of transplants. Joe is convinced that has more to do with Abigail’s beauty than with his dubious charms–especially in the case of Billy Euston. A celebrated pit master and womanizer, Billy is transfixed with Abigail at first sight. And though Joe is used to his lovely wife’s effect on men, he misjudges their playful flirtations–a tragic mistake that will tear through the island like a hurricane, leaving the broken and the battered in its wake . . .

Year first published: 2023